Steyn bowls to a maiden award

Dubai: South African fast bowler Dale Steyn became the first bowler to bag the ICC Test Player of the Year award. This 25-year-old rising star could not believe that he has managed to pocket this prestigious award beating strong contenders like his compatriot Jacques Kallis, Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene and West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Video: Top cricket stars descend on ICC awards

"I know I had a pretty decent year but frankly I didn't think about winning this award until a few days," said Steyn, who has bagged 128 wickets from just 25 Test matches.

"Maybe tomorrow morning I will realise the enormity of this award. It is a huge award and it is yet to sink into me, as it is too massive," added Steyn, who during the voting period for the best Test player took 86 wickets from just 14 Test matches.

Steyn is modest about his achievements. "I consider myself really lucky to be a part of the South African team. I am really enjoying my cricket at the moment, as I was involved in some great series recently."

Working harder

Is he working hard on improving his bowling and also master the art of reverse swing? "I am not trying to master reverse, but only working on it. There is always room for improvement and I want to keep pushing myself to get better and better and become a better cricketer," he said.

When asked has he set any milestones to achieve?, Steyn said: "I don't want to look too far ahead. I like to take it step by step. I would love to make this award my goal for the future. I want to win this award again and maybe other awards too, so it would be something to aim for."

To a query whether the quota system in South African team selection has put pressure on him, Steyn said: "No. My focus is on my performance and how I can get the best results for my country. It is good to know that there are many waiting to knock you out and so I need to keep performing."

Steyn feels that South African cricket is passing through a great time.

"It's a good time for South Africa though we lost four One-day matches in England. We have some new players coming into the One-day team and we are positive about our future.

"We have a couple of teams coming to South Africa soon and I want to work harder to perform better."

ICC Cricket awards 2008

• Cricketer of the Year: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies)
• Test Player of the Year: Dale Steyn (South Africa)
• ODI Player of the Year: Mahendra Singh Doni (India)
• Emerging Player of the Year: Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka)
• T20 international performance of the year: Yuvraj Singh (India)
• Associate Player of the Year: Ryan ten Doeschate (The Netherlands)
• Women's Cricketer of the Year: Charlotte Edwards (England)
• Umpire of the Year: Simon Taufel (Australia)
• Spirit of Cricket Award: Sri Lanka

TEAMS

ICC Test Team of the Year: Graeme Smith (RSA, capt), Virender Sehwag (IND), Mahela Jayawardene (SRI), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WIS), Kevin Pietersen (ENG), Jacques Kallis (RSA), Kumar Sangakkara (SRI, wkt), Brett Lee (AUS), Ryan Sidebottom (ENG), Dale Steyn (RSA), Muttiah Muralitharan (SRI). 12th man: Stuart Clark (AUS).

ICC ODI Team of the Year: Herschelle Gibbs (RSA), Sachin Tendulkar (IND), Ricky Ponting (AUS, capt), Younis Khan (PAK), Andrew Symonds (AUS), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (IND, wkt), Farveez Maharoof (SRI), Daniel Vettori (NZL), Brett Lee (AUS), Mitchell Johnson (AUS) and Nathan Bracken (AUS). 12th man: Salman Butt (PAK).