Spirit of Cricket Award for MS Dhoni

Zeenews Sports Bureau

London: MS Dhoni has won the Spirit of Cricket Award for withdrawing the appeal against Ian Bell in the recently concluded Test series in England at the LG ICC Awards in London. "While the initial appeal and umpire decision were correct to the letter of the law, the decision by Mahendra and his team to withdraw the appeal shows great maturity," ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said. "To see players and officials uphold the great spirit of cricket, which has underpinned the game for more than a century, is very special." England's Jonathan Trott won the top award after beating competition from his national team-mate Alastair Cook and South Africa's Hashim Amla, besides that of Tendulkar. India's opening batsman Gautam Gambhir also missed out the ODI Player of the Year Award which was won by Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara. Dhoni turned out to be the lone Indian to win an ICC award this year. Despite being wrapped up in an intense and difficult Test series in England, Dhoni showed the right spirit in agreeing to allow Bell to continue batting when he was run out. Netherlands all-rounder Ryan Ten Doeschate has been adjudged as the Associate player of the year. New Zealand fast bowler Tim Southee won the ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year in recognition of his five wickets for 18 runs against Pakistan in New Zealand. Umpire Aleem Dar has won the David Shepherd Trophy for third time after being named ICC Umpire of the Year at the LG ICC Awards in London tonight. Dar, who is 43 and from Pakistan, was voted to this award by the 10 Full Member captains as well as the eight-man Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees, based on his decision statistics and officiating skills over the past 12 months. It is the third year in a row that he has received the ICC award which was renamed last year after the late England umpire David Shepherd. Up-and-coming West Indies leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo has been named as the Emerging Player of the Year 2011. The 25-year-old, who played in five Test matches in the voting period and took 21 wickets with an average of 35.42, has made an impact within the West Indies side with his attacking approach that yields considerable turn and bounce. He also played in 11 ODIs, bagging 19 wickets at an average of 21.57. Bishoo was the top choice of the 25-person voting academy, coming in ahead of team-mate Darren Bravo, and Pakistan pair of Wahab Riaz and Azhar Ali. Unable to attend the awards, Bishoo said: "First of all I`d like to congratulate all the nominees for the ICC Emerging Player of the Year. "I`d like to thank the ICC for giving me this award and I`m delighted to receive it. I`d like to thank my mother, my manager and all the players who have supported me throughout my career. I`m happy where I am and I am going to keep on working hard for the West Indies and continue to improve and keep playing good cricket." The Emerging Player of the Year Award was one of the individual prizes given at this year`s LG ICC Awards. Players eligible for this award must be under 26 years of age at the start of the voting period (11 August 2010) and have played no more than five Test matches and/or 10 ODIs before the start of the voting period. Previous winners of this award include Irfan Pathan (2004), Kevin Pietersen (2005), Ian Bell (2006). Shaun Tait (2007), Ajantha Mendis (2008), Peter Siddle (2009) and Steven Finn (2010). With inputs from ICC Media release