Sports desk: Bangladesh pace sensation Mustafizur Rahman aka fizz was named the best T20 bowler of 2016 by the ESPNCricinfo while Mehedi Hasan Miraz clinched the crown for best debutant of the year for his record 19 wickets in his debut Test series against England, reports espncricinfo.
Mustafizur was adjudged the best T20 bowler for his five New Zealand wickets for 22 runs with his cutters in a World T20 game in Kolkata. Last year, the best debutant award went to Mustafiz.
Broad, who won last year for his phenomenal 8 for 15 in the Trent Bridge Ashes Test, took home the award this year for his series-sealing spell of 6 for 17, which razed South Africa for 83 runs in Johannesburg.
The ESPNcricinfo awards honour the best batting and bowling performances across the international formats of the game in the preceding calendar year. The jury for this year's awards, that were announced yesterday, included Ian Chappell, Mahela Jayawardene, Courtney Walsh, Mark Butcher, Ramiz Raja, and ESPNcricinfo's senior writers and editors.
Carlos Brathwaite and Hayley Matthews' career-defining innings in the men's and women's World T20 finals were voted the best T20 batting performances of 2016 at the ESPNcricinfo Awards, announced today. Ben Stokes won the Test batting award for his 198-ball 258 in Cape Town, the second-fastest Test double-century, while his team-mate Stuart Broad won the Test bowling award for a second year running.
Quinton de Kock's 178 – an innings that kick-started South Africa's 5-0 whitewash against Australia at home – was named the ODI batting performance of the year.
South Africa were the opposition that Sunil Narine destroyed on his comeback, with 6 for 27 in Guyana, which was voted the ODI bowling performance of the year.
