ESPN announces nominees for 2013 ESPNcricinfo Awards

ESPN announced the nominees for the seventh annual ESPNcricinfo Awards. The awards recognize the best cricket performers and performances in 2013. A blue-ribbon independent jury will decide the winners in the four individual performance categories, while fan voting on ESPNcricinfo will determine the Best Debut of the Year award. New this year, ESPNcricinfo will be announcing two special awards in the weeks ahead that honour worthy recipients in other aspects of the sport. The winners will be announced later this year at a gala event in Mumbai.

For seven years the ESPNcricinfo Awards have been recognised and appreciated by international cricketers and fans because of the sites standing as the most respected independent voice in cricket and because the awards are selected each year by an expert jury, comprising some of the world's most discerning observers of the game.

“The year 2013 witnessed some memorable and extraordinary moments in cricket, including the final edition of the ICC Champions Trophy and the retirement of some of the sport’s greats, like Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis and Graeme Swann. The year also gave us some remarkable performances from Mitchell Johhson, Ian Bell, Virat Kohli, Saeed Ajmal, and Dale Steyn. It is a challenging task for the jury to decide on winners, considering how many fantastic performances and matches we’ve had this year”, said Sambit Bal, Editor in Chief, ESPNcricinfo and member of the awards selection jury.
The winners in four Performance categories will be selected by a jury panel that includes Ian Chappell, Rahul Dravid, Martin Crowe, Mark Butcher, Sanjay Manjrekar, Daryll Cullinan, Ramiz Raja, Rusell Arnold, Mark Nicholas, and the senior editors and writers of ESPNcricinfo.

Each of the four Performance categories consists of 8-13 nominated individual performances which will be assessed by the jury on their achievements, display of skills, impact on the result and several other factors. The four Performance categories and nominees in 2013 are:

TEST BOWLING PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Nominees:  Saeed Ajmal – 6 for 96 (Pakistan v S. Africa, 2nd Test, Cape Town); James Anderson – 5 for 73 (Eng. v Aus, 1st Test, Nottingham); Ravichandran Ashwin – 7 for 103 (India v Aus., 1st Test, Chennai); Stuart Broad – 7 for 44 (Eng. v NZ, 1st Test, Lord’s); Stuart Broad – 6 for 50 (Eng. v Aus., 4th Test, Durham); Tendai Chatara – 5 for 61 (Zimbabwe. v Pakistan, 2nd Test, Harare); Mitchell Johnson – 4 for 61 (Aus. v Eng., 1st Test, Brisbane); Mitchell Johnson – 7 for 40 (Aus. v Eng., 2nd Test, Adelaide); Nathan Lyon – 7 for 94 (Aus. v India, 4th Test, Delhi); Vernon Philander – 5 for 7 (S. Africa v NZ, 1st Test, Cape Town); Dale Steyn – 6 for 8 (S. Africa v Pakistan, 1st Test, Johannesburg); Dale Steyn – 6 for 100 (S. Africa v Ind., 2nd Test, Durban).   

TEST BATTING PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Nominees: Ian Bell - 109 (Eng v Aus., 1st Test, Nottingham); Darren Bravo – 218 (W. Indies v. NZ, 1st Test, Dunedin); MS Dhoni – 224 (India v Aus., 1st Test, Chennai); Shikhar Dhawan - 187 (India v Aus., 3rd Test, Mohali); Faf du Plessis – 134 (S. Africa v India, 1st Test, Johannesburg); Brad Haddin – 94 (Aus v Eng., 1st Test, Brisbane); Mominul Haque – 181 (Bangladesh v NZ, 1st Test, Chittagong); Younis Khan – 200* (Pakistan v Zimbabwe, 1st Test, Harare); Virat Kohli – 119 (India v S. Africa, 1st Test, Johannesburg); Khurram Manzoor – 146 (Pakistan v S Africa, 1st Test, Abu Dhabi); Matt Prior – 110* (Eng. V NZ, 3rd Test, Auckland); Graeme Smith – 234 (S. Africa v Pakistan, 2nd Test, Dubai); Steve Smith – 111 (Aus. v Eng., 3rd Test, Perth).

ODI BOWLING PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Nominees:  Shahid Afridi (Pakistan v W. Indies, 1st ODI, Georgetown); Saeed Ajmal (Pakistan v India, 3rd ODI, Delhi); Rubel Hossain (Bangladesh v NZ, 1st ODI, Dhaka); Ravindra Jadeja (India v W. Indies, 6th match, ICC Champions Trophy, The Oval); Mitchell Johnson (Aus. v India, 3rd ODI, Mohali); Nuwan Kulasekara (Sri Lanka v Aus., 3rd ODI, Brisbane); Dale Steyn (S. Africa v Pakistan, 2nd ODI, Port Elizabeth); Lonwabo Tsotsobe (S. Africa v Sri Lanka, 3rd ODI, Pallekele).

ODI BATTING PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Nominees:  Shikhar Dhawan (India v S. Africa., 1st match, ICC Champions Trophy, Cardiff); MS Dhoni (India v Aus., 3rd ODI, Mohali); James Faulkner (Aus. v India, 3rd ODI, Mohali); Martin Guptill (NZ v Eng., 2nd ODI, Southampton); Quinton de Kock (S. Africa v India, 1st ODI, Johannesburg); Virat Kohli (India v Aus., 2nd ODI, Jaipur); Kieron Pollard (W. Indies v Aus., 4th ODI, Sydney); Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka v Eng., 8th match, ICC Champions Trophy, The Oval); Rohit Sharma (India v Aus., 7th ODI, Bangalore); Kane Williamson (NZ v S. Africa, 2nd ODI, Kimberley).

ESPN will give fans the power to select the best debutant from 2013 through the ESPNcricinfo Debut of the Year award. The award will give ESPNcricinfo users the opportunity to vote on the best debut cricket performances of the year from the 13 nominees. Fans can read more about each player and cast their vote at:  [link to Debut of the Year voting page]

ESPNCRICINFO DEBUT OF THE YEAR
Nominees:  Kyle Abbott (S. Africa), Ashton Agar (Aus), Zulfiqar Babar (Pakistan), Bilawal Bhatti (Pakistan), Jason Holder (W. Indies), Sohaib Maqsood (Pakistan), Matt Machan (Scotland), Bruce Martin (NZ), Kusal Perera (Sri Lanka), Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe), Hamish Rutherford (NZ), Mohammed Shami (india) and Iain Wardlaw (Scotland).

STATSGURU AWARDS
The ESPNcricinfo Awards also again feature the Statsguru Awards – more than 30 award categories based purely on statistical achievement from international matches in 2013. The awards are based on detailed data analysis of performances by ESPNcricinfo’s one-of-a-kind statistical tools and will be announced on the website in February.