Eighth annual ESPNcricinfo Awards Thursday Feb 19,2015

 

The ESPNcricinfo Awards honour the best batting and bowling performances across the international formats of the game for the calendar year

The ESPNcricinfo Awards were decided by a jury of former players - among them, Ricky Ponting, Ian Chappell, Martin Crowe, Michael Holding, Graeme Smith, Daryll Cullinan and Mark Butcher - and ESPNcricinfo's senior writers and editors

Brendon McCullum's s match-saving 302 Vs  India in Wellington has been voted the top Test batting performance of 2014
Brendon McCullum became the first New Zealander to score a triple-century in Tests, which came when New Zealand looked in danger of surrendering their 1-0 lead in the two-Test series. McCullum, in partnership with BJ Watling (124) and Jimmy Neesham (137) ensured the series stayed with the hosts, following a high-scoring draw
Scorecard
NZ 192/10 in 52.5 Overs and 680/8 Declared in 210 Overs
India 438/10 in 102.4 Overs
Shikhar Dhawan (98)Ajinkya Rahane(118) M S Dhoni(68)


The Test bowling award went to Australia's Mitchell Johnson, for his 7/68 against South Africa in  Centurion
Mitchell Johnson bundled out South Africa for 206 in the first Test and set Australia on the path to a Test and series win. It was his second ESPNcricinfo Award in the category in consecutive years.

Rohit Sharma who broke a world record with his monumental 264 Runs Vs Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens,Kolkata,took the award for the best ODI batting performance
Rohit Sharma's innings in Kolkata came in his return match from injury. He began cautiously, was fortunate to be dropped in the outfield early in his innings, and went on to score his second ODI double-hundred, smashing 33 fours and nine sixes. Incidentally, his first double-hundred in the format won the ODI Batting award for 2013

The top ODI bowling performance was Lasith Malinga's 5/56 which helped Sri Lanka beat Pakistan in the Asia Cup Final in Mirpur

In the T20 category, England's Alex Hales took the award for the best batting performance with his 116* Vs Sri Lanka in the World T20 in Bangladesh

In the same tournament,Sri Lankan Rangana Herath's 5 wickets for 3 Runs Vs New Zealand was the jury's choice for the best bowling performance.

Sri Lankan players have figured prominently across award categories in 2014
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews won 3 awards - Batsman of the Year, Best Test Batsman and Most Consistent Test Batsman - for aggregating more than 1200 runs each in Tests and ODIs
Rangana Herath was named the Best Test Bowler.