Joe Root & Harry Brook nominated for ICC men’s cricketer of year

Former England captain Joe Root and batter Harry Brook have been shortlisted for the ICC men’s cricketer of the year award.

Australia batter Travis Head and India pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah are the other male nominations.

Root, 34, is the number one-ranked Test batter in the men’s game as a result of making 1,556 runs in 17 Tests at an average of 55.57 in 2024.

He was briefly displaced at the top of the rankings earlier this year by team-mate Brook, but a disappointing third Test in New Zealand for the 25-year saw Root regain his spot.

Brook has otherwise enjoyed a stellar year, which peaked with a maiden triple hundred in Pakistan in October.

The Yorkshire batter hit 317 off 322 balls in Multan to help England to their third-highest total in Test history.

Bumrah is the leading wicket-taker in Tests in 2024 – with 71 at an average of 14.92 – while Head has scored three pivotal centuries and averages 40.53.

Australia’s Annabel Sutherland, New Zealand’s Melie Kerr, South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt and Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu have been nominated for the women’s award.

Kerr led New Zealand to the T20 World Cup title earlier this year, beating Wolvaardt’s South Africa in the final.

The 24-year-old took a record 15 wickets during the tournament while Wolvaardt hit more runs (223) than any other batter in the tournament in the United Arab Emirates.

Athapaththu led Sri Lanka to success in the Asia Cup while Sutherland became just the ninth woman to make a Test double century in February.

Root and Brook are also nominated for the men’s Test cricketer of the year award while seamer Gus Atkinson is on the shortlist for the emerging men’s cricketer of the year.