CMS World Cup Awards 2023

[bigfluffylemon]

Hi everyone

I'll run this again. Nominations in by the end of Friday 24th, and I'll write up over the weekend.

Awards:
3 batsmen of the tournament
3 bowlers of the tournament
All-rounder of the tournament
Wicket-keeper of the tournament
Captain of the tournament
Emerging star of the tournament
Batting performance of the tournament (no prizes for guessing this one)
Bowling performance of the tournament
Match of the tournament
Biggest (positive) surprise of the tournament (team)
Biggest (positive) surprise of the tournament (player)
Biggest letdown of the tournament (team) (again, I suspect there will be no contest here)
Biggest letdown of the tournament (player)
Champagne moment of the tournament
Overall player of the tournament

Hopefully those are mostly self-explanatory, but a few notes on a couple:

Emerging star is a bit subjective. It's intended to be: which player has made the biggest name for themselves in this tournament, relative to their standing in their team prior - likely to be a young or new player, but it could be someone who has been around for a while, never achieved much until now, but had a great tournament.

Positive surprises and letdowns are intended to be awarded to specific players and teams rather than specific incidents. Those categories are intended to be for the individual players and teams that most exceeded and most fell short of pre-tournament expectations.

Get the votes in!

[bigfluffylemon]

Will put mine in now so I'm not biasing anything later

Awards:
3 batsmen of the tournament
Kohli, Rohit, Ravindra (honourable mention QdK, but see below)
3 bowlers of the tournament
Shami, Zampa, Bumrah
All-rounder of the tournament
Maxwell
Wicket-keeper of the tournament
QdK - having him here means I can squeeze another batter in above, and he was genuinely a strong keeper as well as scoring buckets of runs.
Captain of the tournament
Hashmatulla Shahidi
Emerging star of the tournament
Gerald Coetzee
Batting performance of the tournament
Let me think about it - Maxwell's 201*, obv
Bowling performance of the tournament
Much tougher, as there wasn't anything truly outstanding here. Going for Shami's 4-22 v England, as it was critical in defending a sub-par total. Most of the other outstanding bowling analyses were in defence of huge totals where the batsmen were just hitting out, or didn't swing the game that was only heading one way.
Match of the tournament
Australia v Afghtanistan
Biggest (positive) surprise of the tournament (team)
Afghanistan
Biggest (positive) surprise of the tournament (player)
Rachin Ravindra
Biggest letdown of the tournament (team)
ENGLAND
Biggest letdown of the tournament (player)
Jos Buttler
Champagne moment of the tournament
Maxwell's double ton
Overall player of the tournament
Virat Kohli

[Arthur Crabtree]

Cheers, just a reminder to myself.

[GarlicJam]

I am sure that Indian players will dominate here...

Batsmen: Kohli and Rohit, without a doubt. Toss up between Ravindra and de Kock - and there is a 'keeper spot
Bowlers: Shami, Bumrah - and the tight 3rd spot will go to Zampa
All-rounder: Maxwell, basically on the strength of that stupendous 200 n.o., but his bowling was an important part of Aus' run
Wicket-keeper: de Kock - on the strength of his batting.
Captain: pleased to say that this is Cummins, he has really led the team this tournament. I hope this has shut a lot of the whingers/detractors back at home
Emerging star: No surprise here - Rachin Ravindra
Batting performance: Maxie, of course
Bowling Performance: I don't rightly know. So I'll go Shami's 7for against NZ in the semi
Match of the tournament: Aus/Afg closely followed by SA/Aus semi - call me biased
Team surprise - Afghanistan. Great CWC for them, and it almost was a lot better. Aus were a pleasant surprise though.
Player surprise - Gerald Coetzee
Biggest let-down (team): not such a let-down, but of course it must be England
Biggest let-down (Player): Buttler
Champagne moment - Maxie's double ton to rescue Australia.
Player of the tournament: Kohli is a stand out here. Almost ended up with a 100+ average, at a satisfactory strike-rate, and he controlled the innings of so many games. He obviously thought he was in the same type of innings last night - such was his reluctance to leave the crease when dismissed.

I don't think I missed any spot

[Arthur Crabtree]

3 batsmen of the tournament
Kohli, de Kock, Maxwell.

3 bowlers of the tournament
Shami, Bumrah, Shamsi.

All-rounder of the tournament
Maxwell

Wicket-keeper of the tournament
Mohammad Rizwan.

Captain of the tournament
Hashmatullah Shahidi.

Emerging star of the tournament
Noor Ahmad

Batting performance of the tournament
Maxwell v Afghanistan

Bowling performance of the tournament
Shami, 7-57 v NZ

Match of the tournament
Afghanistan v Australia

Biggest (positive) surprise of the tournament (team)
Afghanistan

Biggest (positive) surprise of the tournament (player)
Ravindra

Biggest letdown of the tournament (team)
England

Biggest letdown of the tournament (player)
Jos Buttler

Champagne moment of the tournament
Afghanistan beating Pakistan.

Overall player of the tournament
Kohli.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Didn't read the others before posting, so I wasn't cribbing!

[Durhamfootman]

Awards:
3 batsmen of the tournament QdK. King Kohli, Rohit
3 bowlers of the tournament Shami, Zampa, Coetzee
All-rounder of the tournament not sure any all rounder has stood out in both disciplines
Wicket-keeper of the tournament Inglis, I guess. Didn't seem to drop much... dropped nothing in the final
Captain of the tournament Has to be the guy who won it... Cummins.... helluva year after personal tragedy
Emerging star of the tournament Rachin Ravindra
Batting performance of the tournament (no prizes for guessing this one) Maxwell double ton
Bowling performance of the tournament Shami semi final 7fer
Match of the tournament can't comment, because I haven't seen any of it
Biggest (positive) surprise of the tournament (team) NL beating SA
Biggest (positive) surprise of the tournament (player) Kohli... I thought he was finished prior to this
Biggest letdown of the tournament (team) (again, I suspect there will be no contest here) Big E
Biggest letdown of the tournament (player) Big E capt
Champagne moment of the tournament Maxwell fastest ton
Overall player of the tournament If I don't pick Kohli, the BCCI might never let me watch cricket again.... they might even send the boys round to my house one night to give a right old kicking, so it doesn't feel like I have much choice. King Kohli

[bigfluffylemon]

Reminder bump.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe someone could do a PM?

[sussexpob]

3 batsmen of the tournament
Kohli has to be there, Rohit gets in because he so often sets the momentum that teams cant then reel in, and I am going for Ravindra because QDK is getting in further down.

3 bowlers of the tournament
Have to go with Shami and Bumrah... could easily pick all 4 of India's bowlers who had Econ under 5, but Ill go with Hazlewood, who was also miserly in the tournament.

All-rounder of the tournament
Maxwell has to win this. The net strike rate gain he alone brought to Australia is crazy.

Wicket-keeper of the tournament
QDK has to be.

Captain of the tournament
Pat Cummins - Aussie tactics in the final were brilliant

Emerging star of the tournament
Ravindra with the bat (and overall), but honourable mention to Coetzee .. the next balls out pace option South Africa pluck from nowhere

Batting performance of the tournament all time
Maxwell v Afghanistan

Bowling performance of the tournament
As a unit, the Shami/Bumrah/Siraj demolition of SL was the most impressive spell of white ball bowling at this level I can remember for a long time. But Shami's 5-18 statistically stands as the best from that assault so I guess that.

Match of the tournament
Afghanistan v Australia... the initial excitement of Afghanistan going to win, and then the Maxwell fight back from the death... tough to beat that.

Biggest (positive) surprise of the tournament (team)
Afghanistan - Let's hope we see them in more matches in the future.

Biggest (positive) surprise of the tournament (player)
Ravindra

Biggest letdown of the tournament (team)
England

Biggest letdown of the tournament (player)
Suryakumar Yadav... in a line up of supreme batting talent, he's by far the weak link

Champagne moment of the tournament
Kohli passing Tendulkar.... a record I thought impossible to be beaten in the age of T20s taking up space in the calendar.

Overall player of the tournament
Kohli

[bigfluffylemon]

Hello everyone, and time for the awards ceremony. Not a huge number of voters this time around, but thanks to those who took the time to contribute.

Forget the ICC awards, the CMS awards are the definitive guide to ICC world cup performance, for a world that's already moved on from the tournament as the next T20 series has started

[bigfluffylemon]

3 batsmen of the tournament

Number 1, well, it had to be, didn't it? Virat Kohli was the unanimous pick of our voters, and for good reason. 765 runs absolute destroyed the record for most runs in a single edition of the World Cup, one that had stood for 20 years and was held by a certain SR Tendulkar. 3 tons, 6 50s in 11 innings, at an astonishing average of 95 and a strike rate of over 90, it was a dream performance from one of India's very best ever.

Number 2 was Rohit Sharma. Second highest run scorer of the tournament with 597, but it wasn't just the how many but the how, as Sharma scored at a strike rate of 126, a strike rate well ahead every other opener in the tournament (except Travis Head), and was responsible for setting India up for a flyer so many times. It was telling that his wicket was a major turning point in the final.

Number 3 - with an honourable mention to Quentin de Kock (who was perhaps overlooked by some posters as he'll get in later), was New Zealand's Rachin Ravinda. A huge 578 runs in 10 innings, with 3 hundreds, an average over 60 and an SR of over 100, Ravinda's opening onslaughts during the powerplay were a huge part of some massive NZ totals that took them to the semi final.

[bigfluffylemon]

3 bowlers of the tournament

Number 1, the unanimous pick by our voters was Mohammad Shami. A quite astonishing performance by Shami, who missed the first four games, but still managed to be the tournament's highest wicket taker with 24 at a quite astonishingly miserly average of 10.7. His economy rate of 5.26 was pretty solid as well in a tournament where few quicks managed to go for less than 6, but it was the number of game-changing spells he bowled that really stood out, with 3 five-fers and another 4-fer. No other player managed more than one five wicket haul.

Number 2 was another Indian quick, the amazingly consistent Jasprit Bumrah, who bagged 20 scalps at 18.65, the second best average of anyone to take more than 7 wickets, but as with the last world cup, it was his extraordinary economy rate of 4.06 that really stood out - the best of any bowler in the tournament who bowled more than 10 overs. His death bowling continues to be a huge factor in India's success.

Number 3 was the first member of the winning team to get an award - Australia's Adam Zampa. Zampa was the tournament's second highest wicket taker with 23 victims and 3 4-wicket hauls, at an average of 22 and economy of 5.36. It was indicative of his immense value to the side that in his first two matches where he struggled, Australia did too, but once he found his rhythm, they were unbeatable from there on.

[bigfluffylemon]

All rounder of the tournament could be none other than Glenn Maxwell. Maxwell's runs were essential for Australia, as he was their third highest run-scorer overall and only just outside the tournament top 10, and to the surprise of no-one also had the highest strike rate in the tournament. His bowling, while not on the level of his batting, was still pretty handy, with 6 wickets and a very solid economy of 4.8 - he was able to get through some overs and keep the pressure on for his team with Zampa bowling at the other end more than once.

Wicket-keeper of the tournament was a little more contested, but Quentin de Kock is a worthy winner. His batting got South Africa off to amazing starts more than once, and he finished the 3rd highest runscorer in the tournament with 594 at a strike rate of 107, and the most centuries in the tournament, with 4. His keeping was less flashy, but he topped the tables for tournament dismissals too with 20, 3 ahead of his nearest rival.

Captain of the tournament - with an honourable mention to Hashmatulla Shahidi, the winner was Pat Cummins. Much maligned as a captain in his home country for reasons that escape me (especially after the Ashes earlier this year), Cummins made Australian and World Cup history by guiding an unfancied Australia team from 2 initial defeats all the way to the trophy. At no point did the team look unbeatable, or ever deliver the perfect performance, but somehow they managed to find a way to win the crucial moments - Cummins guided them over the line in tight games, and was the only captain to find a way to counter India's all-star batting line-up in the final.

[bigfluffylemon]

Emerging star of the tournament, as well as biggest positive surprise, was Rachin Ravindra (since they have similar themes I'll cover both here, otherwise I'll just repeat myself later). A virtual unknown coming into the tournament with just 12 ODIs to his name and some fairly unremarkable figures (an average of 23.6 and one 50 in those 12 ODIs), Ravindra exploded onto the scene to finish the fourth-highest runscorer, dominating powerful bowling attacks like Pakistan and Australia, and completely blindsiding England in the first game. One to watch to be sure.

Batting performance of the tournament, no surprises as it's probably the batting performance of all time, Glenn Maxwell's 201 not out v Afghanistan was the unanimous pick. It's hard to find enough superlatives to describe this innings - from 91-7 Australia were dead and buried, but Maxwell scored the only double century in a chase, the only double century not scored by an opener, Australia's highest ever world cup score and smashed a heap of other records along the way, while almost unable to walk with cramp for a large part of the innings. Once this world cup is otherwise long forgotten, this innings will be talked about with the same reverence as Tendulkar's 200, Richards 187 and Lara's test 400. Unsurprisingly it also took the champagne moment of the tournament, and Afghanistan v Australia was match of the tournament too as a result - not just for the innings itself, but the context in which it was played, a truly extraordinary result in a game of cricket Australia had no right to win.