Ashes winners nominated

EIGHT of England's Ashes winners have been nominated for the ICC's Cricketer of the Year award after the long list of candidates was announced yesterday.

Skipper Andrew Strauss heads the list after securing England's historic first Test series success in Australia in 24 years last winter.

The left-hander is joined by fellow opener Alastair Cook - after his remarkable return of 766 runs at 127.66 in Australia - in addition to Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett and James Anderson as England dominated the long list of 17 players. Strauss is, however, a surprising omission from the Test Player of the Year nominees with Kevin Pietersen joining the other list of names for the category.

England's beaten foes Australia have just one nomination in either category - all-rounder Shane Watson. Trott and Swann are England's only nominees in the One-Day award while Trott is also in a select five-man group eligible for the People's Choice Award - alongside India's World Cup-winning skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kumar Sangakkara, Chris Gayle and Hashim Amla - which will be chosen by fans from around the world.

The winners of the awards will be named at a ceremony in London on 12 September.

England's dominance of the two major awards is reflective of a 12-month period that finds them on the brink of becoming the world's top-ranked Test side for the first time.