Up-and-coming West Indies bowler Sunil Narine has been named as the Emerging Cricketer of the Year 2012 at the LG ICC Awards in Colombo.
 
The 24-year-old from Trinidad, follows in the footsteps of last year’s winner and fellow West Indies bowler, Devendra Bishoo, in claiming the award. The off-spinner played in three Tests for the West Indies claiming 12 wickets at an average 31.50, while in the 15 ODIs he played in he claimed 28 wickets at an average of 18.82.
 
Narine was the top choice of the 32-person voting academy, coming out ahead of Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal, Doug Bracewell of New Zealand and Australia’s James Pattinson.
 
In Sri Lanka as part of the West Indies ICC World Twenty20 squad, he said upon receiving the award: “We’ve a good junior set-up so hopefully the awards keep coming for us. I think this has been the best 12 months for me and I just keep adapting the best as possible. Hopefully I can keep going the best I can and keep competing for the West Indies.
 
“I need to digest this and this one step at time and enjoy every minute that I play. This award means a lot for me and it’s an encouragement to keep going and continue to improve. I dedicate this award to my father who kept pushing me, who took me to the Queen’s Park Oval regularly and told me I would have my moment and I’d like to thank him for his help and all my family who support me.”
 
The ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year Award was one of the 11 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 (4 August 2011) 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), Steven Finn (2010) and Devendra Bishoo (2011).
 
Based on the period between 4 August 2011 and 6 August 2012, the LG ICC Awards 2012 take into account performances by players and officials in a remarkable period for the game.
 
For all the individual awards (with the exceptions of the Spirit of Cricket Award and the Umpire of the Year), a long-list compiled by the selection panel was forwarded to a 32-person Voting Academy made up of former players, respected members of the media, an elite umpire and an elite match referee. They voted on a three, two, one basis (with three being the highest value) and the winners emerged.
 
That period includes such high-profile events as the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2012 held in the UAE, the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh in 2011, various rounds of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, as well as numerous Pepsi ICC World Cricket League and Championship fixtures, plus several bilateral Test and ODI series.
 
The LG ICC Awards ceremony is now in its ninth year and this year it will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Previous ceremonies were held in London (2004 and 2011), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006), Johannesburg (2007 and 2009), Dubai (2008) and Bengaluru (2010).