Joe Root named on seven-man shortlist for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, with Sarah Taylor nominated for the female award

England Test captain Joe Root has been named on a seven-man shortlist for the International Cricket Council Male Cricketer of the Decade, while compatriot Sarah Taylor has been nominated for the female award.

Root is in contention for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award alongside India pair Ravichandran Ashwin and Virat Kohli, Australian batsman Steve Smith, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, AB de Villiers of South Africa, and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara. Batsman Taylor is included among six contenders for the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award. Australians Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry, New Zealand’s Suzie Bates, Stafanie Taylor of the West Indies, and India’s Mithali Raj make up the shortlist.

The awards recognise the best overall performers across all formats of international cricket between Jan 1, 2011 and Oct 7, 2020. A fan vote, which runs from Wednesday until Dec 16, will make up 10 per cent of the voting, with votes from an expert panel contributing 90 per cent.

Root is also up for Test Cricketer of the Decade, along with England team-mate James Anderson, while Anya Shrubsole has been shortlisted for the ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Decade.

England batsman Jason Roy described 29-year-old Root – who is not in his country’s T20 squad for the current tour of South Africa but is part of the group for the subsequent three one-day internationals – as “full of class”.

“You just know what you’re going to get with Rooty don’t you?” Roy said. “We played a squad game the other day and I said to Jos [Buttler], ‘he’s just always batting isn’t he?’ He’s always there, you look out at the middle and he’s always on 40. He’s full of class.”

Meanwhile, Scotland trio Richie Berrington, Kyle Coetzer and Calum MacLeod have been nominated for the Men’s Associate Cricketer of the Decade, while compatriots Kathryn Bryce and Sarah Bryce are up for the female equivalent.

PA