England named BBC Team of the Year

Cricket was well represented at the BBC's Sports Personality awards with England taking the Team of the Year award, while Andy Flower picked up Coach of the Year.

The team award came in a year where they completed their 3-1 Ashes series victory in Sydney early in January, before climbing to the top of the Test rankings following their 4-0 whitewash against India - in between they beat Sri Lanka 1-0. Their one-day form was less convincing with a poor World Cup and heavy losses in Australia and India, but they did secure home series wins against India and Sri Lanka.

It was the third time in seven years England's cricketers had won the team award following their Ashes successes in 2005 and 2009. They beat Premier League champions Manchester United and Wales' rugby union team. The winner was decided by a panel of sports editors from national and regional newspapers, and magazines.

Flower, meanwhile, picked up further plaudits for his role in masterminding England's climb to the top of the Test rankings. Last month he was named coach of the year at the UK Coaching Awards.

Flower has formed a critical partnership with captain Andrew Strauss after the pair was thrown together following the double sacking of Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores almost three years ago. Since then, England have only lost one Test series - the first that Flower was in charge of, against West Indies in early 2009 - and have secured back-to-back Ashes triumphs.

Strauss and Alastair Cook were also on the shortlist for the Sports Personality of the Year award but neither made the top three, with the prize going to cyclist Mark Cavendish.