VVS Laxman – ESPNcricinfo Awards

It was just fitting that the winners of the top awards at the ESPNcricinfo Awards belonged to the top two Test teams in the world – India and South Africa. VVS Laxman picked up the Test batting award while Dale Steyn picked up the bowling award in the ceremony which was held at Bangalore.

Three of Laxman’s innings figured in the shortlist for the best performance but it was his 96 in seamer friendly conditions at Durban that got the award whereas Steyn picked up his award for an inspired spell of fast bowling on a flat track in Nagpur.

Sachin Tendulkar might have played only two ODI’s in 2010 but his unbeaten double century against the Proteas at Gwalior was good enough to fetch him his second consecutive ODI batting award. The jury consisting of Rameez Raja, Kepler Wessels, Martin Crowe, Geoffrey Boycott, Tony Grieg, Sanjay Manjrekar and Cricinfo’s senior staff picked Umar Gul’s 6/42 against England as the ODI bowling performance of the year.

Tim Southee’s burst of 5 wickets in 9 balls which included a hat-trick was unanimously voted as the T20 bowling performance of the year while Michael Hussey’s unbeaten 60 in the World T20 semifinal against Pakistan beat Brendon McCullum’s century against Australia to win the T20 batting award.

The readers rated Laxman’s knock of 73 against the Aussies at Mohali as the best Test performance of the year.

Winners:

Test Batting Performance of the Year: VVS Laxman (96 vs South Africa at Durban)

Test Bowling Performance of the Year: Dale Steyn (7/51 vs India at Nagpur)

ODI Batting Performance of the Year: Sachin Tendulkar (200* vs South Africa at Gwalior)

ODI Bowling Performance of the Year: Umar Gul (6/42 vs England at The Oval)

T20 Batting Performance of the Year: Michael Hussey (60* vs Australia at St. Lucia)

T20 Bowling Performance of the Year: Tim Southee (5/18 vs Pakistan at Eden Park)

Tags: Cricinfo Awards, Cricket, Dale Steyn, ESPNcricinfo Awards, espncricinfo.com, India, Sachin Tendulkar, South Africa, VVS Laxman