Kumar Dharmasena voted Umpire of the Year

Sri Lankan umpire Kumar Dharmasena has won the David Shepherd trophy for the Umpire of the Year at the ICC Awards ceremony in Colombo. It is the first time he has won this award.

The other nominees were five-time winner Simon Taufel, three-time winner Aleem Dar, along with New Zealand's Billy Bowden, England's Richard Kettleborough and Australia's Rodney Tucker.

"This award means a lot to me, after playing cricket for 12 years. It's for the Sri Lankan umpires and the community who looked after my growth," Dharmasena said after accepting his award from Graham Gooch. "Honestly, I feel I had a great year on and off the field and I feel having been a cricketer has helped me with my decision making as an umpire and to give better decisions."

The David Shepherd Trophy for ICC Umpire of the Year was voted on by the 10 current Test captains and the Elite Panel of ICC match referees and is partly based on the umpires' performance statistics.

Dharmasena, who made his international debut as an umpire in 2009, joined the Elite Panel in May 2011. In the voting period he stood in seven Tests and 13 ODIs.