Flintoff named as ICC's One-Day Player of the Year

Andrew Flintoff rounded off an eventful week by winning the One-Day Player of the Year prize at the inaugural ICC awards ceremony at Alexandra Palace in London on Tuesday night. Flintoff became a father for the first time early on Monday, and now he has scooped this major new award.

Flintoff, 26, scored 551 runs at the impressive average of 78.71 in one-day internationals during the year-long period assessed by the panel of judges, and also claimed 12 wickets at an average of 20.50. Unsurprisingly, Flintoff was also part of the one-day team of the year, which was captained - like the Test select XI - by Australia's Ricky Ponting.

Commenting on the accolade, Flintoff sounded almost star-struck. "If somebody had said three years ago that I'd be up here with Ricky [Ponting], and Jacques [Kallis], I probably wouldn't have believed them," he said. "My career over the past 18 months has taken a massive turnaround. I'm in a bit of a purple patch at the moment - not only in my cricket, but in my life.

"My job's been made easier by the class players in the [England] side. We're really just 11 mates who go out and play, and enjoy each other's company, and enjoy each other's successes."

Ehsan Mani, the ICC's president, commented: "Andrew Flintoff has certainly had a tremendous year in 2003-04, and we congratulate him on winning this award."

India's prolific batsman Rahul Dravid picked up both the Test Player of the Year and the Player of the Year awards. "It was a great honour, totally unexpected," he said. "I was very surprised because a lot of people here have had a good year. I'm really happy, and honoured, to be selected."

There was also success for India in the Emerging Player of the Year category, where the top prize went to Irfan Pathan, the 19-year-old left-arm pace bowler. "I feel really good about this," said Pathan. "I have the confidence to do well in international cricket, but this award will boost my confidence even more. It will motivate me a lot, but it's a big motivation to play for India anyway. Every single match is a big challenge."

Malcolm Speed, the ICC's chief executive, paid tribute: "We congratulate Irfan Pathan on winning the Emerging Player of the Year award. He is a highly gifted player, and along with the other nominees in this category, [has] a very bright future in cricket."

The first award of the night, Umpire of the Year, was won by Simon Taufel, the young Australian official. He received the most votes from cricket's Test captains and match referees. And the final gong, the Spirit of Cricket Award, went to the New Zealand team.

World one-day XI
1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Chris Gayle, 4 Ricky Ponting (capt), 5 Brian Lara, 6 Virender Sehwag, 7 Jacques Kallis, 8 Andrew Flintoff, 9 Shaun Pollock, 10 Chaminda Vaas, 11 Jason Gillespie.

World Test XI
1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Rahul Dravid, 5 Brian Lara, 6 Jacques Kallis, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Shane Warne, 10 Jason Gillespie, 11 Stephen Harmison.