ICC Test Cricketer, Player of the Year
Australian captain Michael Clarke has been announced as the winner of the
Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year and was also named
as the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year.
Kumar Sangakkara, Cheteshwar Pujara, Kevin O'Brien, Suzie Bates, Sarah
Taylor, Umar Gul, Mahela Jayawardena and Richard Kettleborough among other
winners.
Clarke has been joined on the winners' list by Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara,
who was named ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year, and India's Cheteshwar Pujara,
who claimed his first-ever ICC award after being named the ICC Emerging
Cricketer of the Year.
Also joining Pujara on the winners list for the first time are New Zealand
captain Suzie Bates, who won the ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year
award, Pakistan fast bowler Umar Gul, whose five for six against South
Africa won him the ICC T20I Performance of the Year award, Ireland's Kevin
O'Brien, who won the Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year award,
and Richard Kettleborough of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, who
won the David Shepherd Trophy for ICC Umpire of the Year.
England's Sarah Taylor clinched the ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year
award for the second year in a row, while Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardena won
his second ICC Spirit of Cricket award, this time for walking without
waiting for an umpire's decision when batting on 91 against New Zealand in
Galle in November 2012
Anand in London Classics quarters
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand found his way to the knockout stage
in the London Chess Classic with an easy draw against tailender Andrei
Istratescu of France in the fifth round of the preliminaries that concluded
at the Olympia.
After scoring three wins in the first four games itself, Anand was destined
to move to the quarterfinal stage in this 16-players event spilt in to four
groups.
Traditionally a super tournament, the London Classic this time became a
Rapid tournament as the world championship was held just two weeks before
its commencement.
Anand will play as black against Adams in the decider for the first place in
the last round having promoted himself to the knockout quarterfinals in the
16-players event split in to four groups.
Among other groups, Russians Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler looked
poised to qualify from the `B` group while in the `C` group Boris Gelfand of
Israel and Hikaru Nakamura of United States already made the cut like Anand
and Adams.
