Stafanie Taylor wins Women's Cricketer award

West Indies allrounder Stafanie Taylor has been named the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year for 2011, at the annual awards ceremony in London.

Taylor, 20, played 10 ODIs during the voting period (August 11, 2010 - August 3, 2011), scoring 610 runs at an average of 76.25, and accounted for 15 victims with her offspin. She also picked up five wickets and made 49 runs in Twenty20 Internationals.

Taylor staved off competition from the English duo of Charlotte Edwards and Lydia Greenway, and Australia's Shelley Nitschke who was last year's winner. The award rounds off a successful year for Taylor who was part of the West Indies side that won the ICC Women's Twenty20 Cricket Challenge in South Africa.

"It is a fantastic honour to be named the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year," said Taylor, who was absent, having just finished a home series against Pakistan yesterday. "I said before the awards that my goal was to be the number one women's cricketer in the world and I'm on my way there with the rankings and to be named the winner of this award makes me extremely happy.

"I would like to thank my team-mates and coaches from the West Indies team, my domestic side Jamaica, and also my family for all the support they continue to give me and I hope I can continue to represent the West Indies with pride."