Chanderpaul up for two awards

MUMBAI, India, CMC – Prolific batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul has earned two nominations and young fast bowler Kemar Roach is up for the “Emerging Player” award for the 2009 LG ICC Awards in Johannesburg, South Africa next month.

The two are among six West Indians appearing on a long list of nominees for special awards at a glittering ICC function slated for October 1 to coincide with the ICC Champions Trophy 2009.

Chanderpaul, the 2008 ICC Cricketer of the Year, gets a repeat nomination for that category and the left-hander is also up for the One Day International (ODI) Player of the Year.

Roach, who made headlines for West Indies in their troubled series against Bangladesh, is among eight players nominated for the Emerging Player award

Chris Gayle, also with two nominations, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Stafanie Taylor are other West Indians appearing on a long nominations’ list, which is expected to be shortened in the coming weeks.

Gayle and Dwayne Bravo have nominations for the Twenty20 Performance of the Year.

The 35-year-old Chanderpaul is among 14 nominees for the Cricketer of the Year award, with Indians Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir, Andrew Strauss, who led England to Ashes victory over Australia this summer, New Zealand’s Danny Vettori and Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan also on the list.

Chanderpaul and Gayle are joined by the likes of Dhoni, England’s Andrew Flintoff, Pakistan’s Umar Gul and India’s Yuvraj Singh for the top ODI player, and Sarwan is the lone West Indian in the nominations for Test Player of the Year, for which Dilshan and Dhoni are also included.

The 21-year-old Roach, who cemented a place in the West Indies team when top flight players boycotted the West Indies home series against Bangladesh earlier this year, was a standout performer for the Caribbean side in both Tests and ODIs.

He bagged a six-wicket haul (6-48) with a hostile spell in the second Test in Grenada and led the wicket-takers in the series with 13 at 17.61 runs apiece.

Roach claimed a series-leading 10 wickets in the ODIs at 16.20 apiece.

His rivals for the “Emerging Player” award include New Zealand’s Martin Guptill, New Zealand’s Jesse Ryder, and the Australians Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus and Philip Hughes.

Gayle and Bravo are up for the T20 performances at the WT20 in England in June – Bravo taking four for 38 and scoring 66 not out off 36 balls against India during the WT20 at Lord’s and Gayle for hitting 88 off 50 balls against Australia at The Oval.

All-rounder Taylor, the leading West Indies player at the ICC Women’s World and WWT20 tournaments this year, is among 15 nominees for the Women’s Cricketer of the Year.

The long-lists of nominations were made by a five-man ICC selection panel chaired by former West Indies captain and current chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee Clive Lloyd.

The panel also includes former players such as India’s Anil Kumble, Mudassar Nazar of Pakistan, Bob Taylor of England and New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming.

The individual player awards will be selected by an academy of 25 highly credentialed cricket personalities from around the world. The academy includes a host of former players and respected members of the media, representatives of the Emirates Elite Panels of ICC Umpires and ICC Match Referees.

The nominations from the Women’s Cricketer of the Year were decided after a committee of former players, current administrators and journalists created a long-list. The award will then be voted for by a separate 25-person voting academy.