Sri Lanka's Ajantha Mendis: 'The Emerging player of the year' at ICC awards
Sri Lanka's spin sensation 23-year old Ajantha Mendis was named as the emerging player of the year at an awards ceremony held by International Cricket Council (ICC) in Dubai, on Wednesday.
Speaking to media Mendis said “I am delighted to win the award, it is an honour to play for Sri Lanka and I hope to continue playing for my country for a long time to come.”
At the same ceremony, the Sri Lanka cricket team too won the 'Spirit of Cricket' award. It is the second year in a row that Sri Lanka won this award under Mahela Jayawardena's captaincy.
Other winners of the 2008 ICC Awards:
- Cricketer of the Year: Shivnarine Chanderpaul, West Indies
- Test Player of the Year: Dale Steyn, South Africa
- ODI Player of the Year: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India
- Emerging Player of the Year: Ajantha Mendis, Sri Lanka
- Associate Player of the Year: Ryan ten Doeschate, Netherlands
- Twenty20 International Performance of the Year: Yuvraj Singh, India
- Women's Player of the Year: Charlotte Edwards, England
- Spirit of Cricket: Sri Lanka
- Umpire of the Year: Simon Taufel, Australia
