George Dockrell wins ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year 2012
George Dockrell has become the ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year at the LG ICC Awards in Colombo.
The voting academy chose Dockrell ahead of other top Associate and Affiliate players including his team-mates on the short-list Kevin O'Brien, Ed Joyce and Paul Stirling as well as Afghanistan's Dawlat Zadran. It is the first time Dockrell, who recently captained Ireland at the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup, has claimed the award.
During the 12-month voting period, spinner Dockrell was the leading Associate and Affiliate wicket-taker with 43 scalps in all formats under observation (T20I, ODI and Intercontinental Cup), 22 of his wickets came in the Intercontinental Cup, the ICC's four-day competition for the top eight Associate and Affiliate Members.
The left-arm spinner, who plays county cricket for English side Somerset and is in Sri Lanka as part of Ireland's Twenty20 squad for the ICC World Twenty20, claimed 14 T20I wickets in the year, the most by any player in the window under observation, including Full Members, Associates and Affiliates with T20I status.
The delighted 20-year-old said upon winning the award: "It's great to win such an award and especially to be following the footsteps of an esteemed group of players like William Porterfield and Ryan ten Doeschate and only at the age of 20, I feel very honoured. It's been a great year of cricket with I-Cup, U19s and WCL Championship and now the WT20 and I've been learning a lot to take it into this tournament.
"It's good to be setting high standards, and hopefully I will keep performing well for Ireland in the future."
The Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year Award was one of 11 individual prizes given at this year's LG ICC Awards. It was announced former West Indies batsman Richie Richardson.
The Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year award serves to recognise and reward the efforts in all international matches of the outstanding cricketers from the teams outside the ICC Full Members.
Based on the period between 4 August 2011 and 6 August 2012, the LG ICC Awards 2012 take into account performances by players and officials in a remarkable period for the game.
For all the individual awards (with the exceptions of the Spirit of Cricket Award and the Umpire of the Year), a long-list compiled by the selection panel was forwarded to a 32-person Voting Academy made up of former players, respected members of the media, an elite umpire and an elite match referee. They voted on a three, two, one basis (with three being the highest value) and the winners emerged.
That period includes such high-profile events as the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2012 held in the UAE, the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh in 2011, various rounds of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, as well as numerous Pepsi ICC World Cricket League and Championship fixtures, plus several bilateral Test and ODI series.
The LG ICC Awards ceremony is now in its ninth year and this year it will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Previous ceremonies were held in London (2004 and 2011), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006), Johannesburg (2007 and 2009), Dubai (2008) and Bengaluru (2010).