What better way than to recognise a cricketer’s solid performance throughout the year by giving them an award? The International Cricket Council (ICC) also went with that thought process and initiated an award for the same purpose.
Since 2004, the ICC has rewarded the players who have performed the best in a particular year with the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy, also known as the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year.
India’s Rahul Dravid, the Wall, became the first player to win this prestigious trophy in 2004. Since then, many prominent players have claimed the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy.
So, in this article, we’ll look at the year-wise winners of the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year Award.
ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year Award Winners List | Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy
| Year | Player |
|---|---|
| 2004 | Rahul Dravid (India) |
| 2005 | Jacques Kallis (South Africa) & Andrew Flintoff (England) |
| 2006 | Ricky Ponting (Australia) |
| 2007 | Ricky Ponting (Australia) |
| 2008 | Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies) |
| 2009 | Mitchell Johnson (Australia) |
| 2010 | Sachin Tendulkar (India) |
| 2011 | Jonathan Trott (England) |
| 2012 | Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) |
| 2013 | Michael Clarke (Australia) |
| 2014 | Mitchell Johnson (Australia) |
| 2015 | Steve Smith (Australia) |
| 2016 | Ravichandran Ashwin (India) |
| 2017 | Virat Kohli (India) |
| 2018 | Virat Kohli (India) |
| 2019 | Ben Stokes (England) |
| 2021 | Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan) |
| 2022 | Babar Azam (Pakistan) |
| 2023 | Pat Cummins (Australia) |
Players with the Most ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year Award
Ricky Ponting | 2 Times (2006, 2007)
Australia’s former captain, Ricky Ponting, became the first player to bag the award in back-to-back years. In 2006, Ponting garnered 2164 runs in 35 matches across formats. And this was his third year with 2000+ runs in all formats combined.
The next year, he won the trophy again, with 1800 runs from 37 matches. Moreover, he led his team to the 2007 ODI World Cup victory.
Mitchell Johnson | 2 Times (2009, 2014)
Another Aussie player on the list and he is speedster Mitchell Johnson. He had a remarkable 2009, with a whopping 113 wickets in his kitty. To go along with that, he also had a gritty outing with the bat as he scored 836 runs, including a Test century against South Africa.
Johnson’s bowling was at its peak in 2014, as he scalped 61 wickets across formats. His bowling exploits were well-complimented by his decent batting, as he scored 408 runs.
Virat Kohli | 2 Times (2017, 2018)
The batting maestro from India, Virat Kohli, became the second player to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy on the trot.
Kohli was on a roll in 2017 and 2018, as he amassed 2818 and 2735 runs across formats, respectively. In both years, he notched up 11 centuries each, which also included 3 Test double tons, all of which came in 2017.
