Virat Kohli and Ellyse Perry named ICC players of the decade

Virat Kohli claimed the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for his performances across all formats and also scooped ODI cricketer of the year; Ellyse Perry celebrated a hat-trick by taking the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for women’s cricketer of the decade alongside ODI and T20 prizes

Virat Kohli claimed the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for his performances across all formats and also scooped the ODI cricketer of the year

India captain Virat Kohli and Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry have been named as the International Cricket Council’s players of the decade.

The awards, held in place of the usual end-of-year ceremony due to the effects of Covid-19 on the fixture calendar, were primarily decided by a panel of former players and experts, with a 10 per cent weighting on a public vote.

Kohli claimed the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for his performances across all formats and also scooped the ODI cricketer of the year, while Perry celebrated a hat-trick by taking the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for women’s cricketer of the decade alongside the ODI and T20 prizes.

Ellyse Perry won the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for women’s cricketer of the decade alongside the ODI and T20 prizes

Australia’s Steve Smith and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan prevented Kohli from a similar clean sweep, winning the Test and T20 gongs respectively.

Kohli was also named captain of the ICC’s Test team of the decade, and has been named the captain of the Test team of the year in each of the past three years.

Australia’s Steve Smith won the men’s Test award

He became the only men’s player to be named in ICC’s Test, ODI, and T20I teams of the decade.

England had the most representatives in the side, with four players – opener Alastair Cook, the hugely successful fast-bowling pair of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, and all-rounder Ben Stokes.