Sapa Proteas pace bowler Dale Steyn won the Test Player of the Year award at the International Cricket Council awards ceremony in Dubai last night.

Steyn beat off short-list competition from Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies, Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena and Proteas team-mate Jacques Kallis to win the first ICC award of his career. During the 12-month voting period, the 25-year-old from Phalaborwa put in some remarkable performances, taking 86 wickets at an average of just 18.10 in the 14 Test matches he played. No other bowler took more than 58 wickets. After collecting his award from former West Indies captain and current chair of the ICC Cricket Committee Clive Lloyd, Steyn said: “I have had a pretty decent year, I suppose, but I didn’t think about winning this award until the past few days. I don’t really know how I feel. Perhaps tomorrow morning it will have sunk in for me because obviously this is a huge award and it’s massive for me. “What I would like to do is maybe turn it into a goal for the future. I would like to win this award again and maybe other awards too so it would be something to aim for.” Chanderpaul won the Cricketer of the Year award, while India’s Mahendra Singh Doni was named the top ODI player. Graeme Smith (as captain), Steyn and Kallis were included in the ICC Test team, while Herschelle Gibbs was the only South African in the ODI team.

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