Finn wins but Swann pipped to player award by Tendulkar

(AP)

Graeme Swann was beaten by Sachin Tendulkar to the International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year prize yesterday in Bangalore. But there was good news for Swann's England team-mate Steven Finn, with the fast bowler named Emerging Player of the Year.

Swann was short-listed along with Tendulkar, India batsman Virender Sehwag and South Africa's Hashim Amla. ICC officials were left embarrassed in August when they initially excluded the England off-spinner from their long list of contenders, despite him taking 49 wickets in Tests and 28 in one-day internationals during the qualification period. An outcry followed and the ICC quickly added Swann to the list, describing his omission as "an oversight".

Finn, meanwhile, beat off competition from Pakistan's Umar Akmal, Sri Lanka's Angelo Matthews and Australia's Tim Paine to land the Emerging Player prize. The 6ft 8in Middlesex fast bowler played in six Test matches during the voting period, taking 27 wickets at an average of 21.85.

Receiving his award from legendary former West Indies bowler Joel Garner, Finn said: "It's a great honour to win this, an award I wasn't expecting and I'm very pleased and honoured to be playing Test-match cricket for my country."

Swann had the consolation of being named in the Test Team of the Year along with James Anderson, while Paul Collingwood and Stuart Broad were selected in the one-day international Team of the Year.

ICC awards

Cricketer of Year: Sachin Tendulkar (India)

Test player of Year: Virender Sehwag (India)

ODI player of Year: AB de Villiers (South Africa)

Emerging player of Year: Steven Finn (England)