Australia's Beth Mooney has missed out on being crowned the best women's cricketer in the world by the International Cricket Council (ICC), with Englishwoman Nat Sciver taking the title.
Mooney was nominated alongside India's Smriti Mandhana and New Zealand's Amelia Kerr, but all were beaten to the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award by English all-rounder Sciver.
Sciver was dominant during the ODI World Cup in 2022, with centuries in England's opening match against Australia and a phenomenal 148 not out as their run chase fell short in the final.
That form, as well as five half-centuries in the format last year, also saw Sciver crowned women's ODI player of the year, beating the top run scorer for the World Cup, Alyssa Healy, whose 170 powered Australia to the title over England.
Sciver scored a half-century in the lone Women's Ashes Test in January, and added a dominant 169 not out in a June Test against South Africa.
Across the three international formats, Sciver scored 1,346 runs and took 22 wickets in 33 matches in the year, captaining England for much of her side's home summer.
Australia's Tahlia McGrath was named the women's T20 player of the year.
Meanwhile, Pakistan all-format captain Babar Azam emulated Sciver in the men's awards, named the overall player of the year and ODI player of the year.
England captain Ben Stokes was judged the best men's Test cricketer.
Babar led Pakistan to the finals of two Twenty20 tournaments last year — the World Cup and Asia Cup — and scored nearly 2,600 international runs in all formats at an average of 54. Nobody else passed 2,000.
Other highlights included saving a draw in the second Test against Australia in Karachi with 196, his highest Test score.
He got his second straight ODI men's award — the first to receive consecutive awards since Virat Kohli in 2017 and 2018 — for leading Pakistan to wins in all three of its ODI series, and scoring 50 or more in eight of the nine matches.
"The most satisfying and accomplishing aspect for me was to compete and perform in front of my home fans against Australia, England and New Zealand's touring sides," Babar said in an ICC statement.
ABC/AP
