The ICC Cricket Awards for 2008/09 took place in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Australian all-rounder Mitchell Johnson was named International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricketer of the Year.

ICC president David Morgan said: “Mitchell has worked extremely hard over the past year to be an integral part of Australia’s bowling lineup and his effective batting style has turned him into one of the top all-round cricketers.

India’s Gautam Gambhir was named Test player of the year

India captain MS Dhoni took the one-day international player of the year award.

Australian bowler Peter Siddle took the emerging player of the year award.

Pakistan’s Aleem Dar was named umpire of the year.

I have never rated Mitchell Johnson, and apart from 1 or 2 good spells I didn’t think he performed that brilliantly. Indeed the Ashes series showed he is an average performer. I thought Dale Steyn has been the World’s most consistent bowler.

Peter Siddle an emerging player of the year was very surprising. He has hardly set the world alight. What about JP Duminy? He virtually won the series for South Africa against Australia. And he backed it up with some other great performances.

Gambhir had a great year and broke all sorts of records, so he deserved his spot, and Dhoni was also a consistent performer.

However it was also surprisng not to see’s names mentioned as they have been extremely consistent for Australia. All in all I thought the awards were quite surprising, and I think next year we’ll definitely see some different names mentioned.