England’s World Cup hero Ben Stokes was recently awarded the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Player of the Year 2019 after a great 12 months. Stokes also played a superb knock of an unbeaten 84 in the final against New Zealand as England bagged their maiden ODI World Cup at Lord’s.

During the voting period, Stokes played 20 ODIs and scored 719 runs along with 12 wickets. But, in the longest format of the game, the all-rounder scored 821 runs and took 22 wickets in 11 Tests which also included an amazing knock of 135 not-out and won England a nail-biting Ashes thriller in Leeds.

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“The last 12 months have been the best in my career, and I believe what we attained will be the catalyst to achieve further success over the next few years,” Stokes said.

When asked about winning the award, the Englishman said, “It is quite flattering to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year. The past 12 months have been incredible for England cricket and to lift the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup for the first time was our greatest achievement.”

“This award is testament to my teammates and the support staff that have been there every step of the way. Fundamentally, without the support of these individuals, we would never achieve our objective of lifting a major trophy,” he added.

The 28-year-old left-hander then talked about the team’s environment by saying, “There is an incredible bond between teammates and to savor our achievements, whether that’s winning the World Cup Final at Lord’s or digging deep to win a Test match against Australia at Headingley. It is satisfying you can accomplish these superb highs together.”

(With News18.com inputs)