ICC Awards: Aleem Dar named Umpire of the Year again;

Amid all the humiliation brought by cricketers indulging in match fixing, here is a moment to be proud of. Aleem Dar has won Umpire of the Year award for the second time in consecutive years, beating competition from Steve Davis, Tony Hill and Simon Taufel. Congratulations to Aleem Dar.

 According to Cricinfo, Dar, 42, was voted by the captains of the ten full members of the ICC and the eight-man elite panel of ICC’s match referees for the period August 24, 2009 to August 10, 2010. Their choice was based on his decision statistics and officiating skills over the past 12 months.

After collecting his trophy from match referee Chris Broad, Dar said: “I think the fact that I’m still playing cricket in Pakistan makes me a good umpire. In the last four times I’ve played cricket I’ve scored centuries so I definitely think that has helped.”

Sachin Tendulkar won Cricketer of the Year award. During the period under consideration for the award – August 24, 2009 to August 10, 2010 – Tendulkar scored 1064 runs at an average of 81.84 in ten Tests. He made 914 runs in 17 ODIs at 65.28, and also scored the format’s first double-century against South Africa in Gwalior.

Tendulkar, who also received the People’s Choice Award, said Gary Kirsten, the India coach, had played an important role in the success of all the batsmen. “He has been instrumental in making all the batters play plenty of deliveries in practice sessions,

he himself throws thousands of deliveries,” Tendulkar said. “Gary has been able to keep us in the right frame of mind, whatever areas we needed to work on, he is making sure we are addressing that.”

Cricketer of the Year award videos

Meanwhile, Virendar Sehwag won Test Cricketer of the Year award, AB de Villiers won ODI Cricketer of the Year award, Steven Finn won Emerging Player of the Year award, Brendon McCullum won T20 Performance of the Year award while New Zealand won Spirit of Cricket award.

 Cricketer of the Year award video