Smith, AB de Villiers in line for ICC awards

South African captain Graeme Smith and prolific batsman AB de Villiers have been nominated in the Cricketer of the Year and Test Player of the Year categories for the International Cricket Council's 2009 awards.

The awards are judged on the period August 13, 2008, to 24 August 2009 and in that period Smith scored 581 runs in seven Tests, including centuries against Australia and Bangladesh, while also leading the Proteas to an historic 2-1 Test series victory Down Under.

De Villiers hit centuries against Australia in Perth, Johannesburg and Cape Town in the period under review, collecting 603 runs in eight Tests.

Considering South Africa's position atop the Test and ODI rankings, the team has relatively few nominees for the major ICC awards.

Fast bowler Dale Steyn is one of 19 players, along with Smith and De Villiers, shortlisted for Test Player of the Year. No South African features in the list of 13 nominees for the ODI Player of the Year.

Exciting Proteas left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell's haul of 4-13 against the West Indies at the World Twenty20 in June is one of 16 showings shortlisted for T20 International Performance of the Year. However, it is hard to see this prize going to anyone other than Pakistan's Shahid Afridi, who has been nominated for three standout performances, all at the World T20, which Pakistan won.

Overall Indian captain MS Dhoni and Sri Lankan all-rounder Tillakaratne Dilshan have the most nominations - three apiece. The awards ceremony will be held in Johannesburg on October 1.

Cricketer of the Year

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)

Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL)

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind)

Gautam Gambhir (Ind)

Saqib Al Hasan (Ban)

Mitchell Johnson (Aus)

Thilan Samaraweera (SL)

Kumar Sangakkara (SL)

Harbhajan Singh (Ind)

Graeme Smith (SA)

Andrew Strauss (Eng)

Daniel Vettori (NZ)

AB de Villiers (SA)

Test Player of the Year

Stuart Broad (Eng)

Michael Clarke (Aus)

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind)

Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL)

Gautam Gambhir (Ind)

Saqib Al Hasan (Ban)

Mitchell Johnson (Aus)

VVS Laxman (Ind)

Jesse Ryder (NZ)

Thilan Samaraweera (SL)

Ramnaresh Sarwan (WI)

Peter Siddle (Aus)

Harbhajan Singh (Ind)

Graeme Smith (SA)

Dale Steyn (SA)

Andrew Strauss (Eng)

Graeme Swann (Eng)

Daniel Vettori (NZ)

AB de Villiers (SA)

ODI Player of the Year

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind)

Andrew Flintoff (Eng)

Chris Gayle (WI)

Umar Gul (Pak)

Martin Guptill (NZ)

Michael Hussey (Aus)

Nuwan Kulasekara (SL)

Ajantha Mendis (SL)

Muttiah Muralitharan (SL)

Yuvraj Singh (Ind)

Virender Sehwag (Ind)

Thilan Thushara (SL)