Australia all-rounder Shelley Nitschke has been named Women's Cricketer of the Year at the International Cricket Council Awards ceremony in Bengaluru, India this week.

The ICC award recognises outstanding performances by women’s cricketers in international competition including Nitschke, who has been a member of the Australian Institute of Sport/Cricket Australia Centre of Excellence from 2003 to 2010.

During the voting period for Nitschke — a left handed batsmen and orthodox spinner — playing eight One Day Internationals  for Australia scoring 342 runs at the top of the order at an average of 57, while the spinner also claimed 12 wickets. She also played in 10 Twenty20 Internationals amassing 265 runs and 10 wickets.

The award caps off a successful year for Nitschke, who was part of the Australia side that won the ICC Women's World Twenty20 series in the West Indies.

‘This year has been fantastic and to cap the year off with winning the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year is brilliant.’  

‘A huge part of increasing people's following of our game has been our playing double-header matches with the men's sides and to be playing Twenty20 cricket on a global stage has also helped us immensely.’

The nominations for the Women's Cricketer of the Year were decided by a committee of former players, current administrators and journalists and then short-listed by a separate 25-person voting academy.

The AIS/CA Centre of Excellence, which was established in 1987 as the national cricket academy has a long history of training and developing Australia’s top cricketers for international competition.