ICC launches annual cricket's "Oscar" award!

[Navarene]

The ICC Awards, cricket's equivalent of the Oscars, have been officially launched, and will be held for the first time this year at the Alexandra Palace in London on September 7.

The awards, which will recognise and honour international cricket's best players of the past 12 months, have already been endorsed by several of the world's leading players, including the captains of Australia, England, South Africa and Sri Lanka. Players from all full member countries, as well as Kenya and the United States of America, who will be in London preparing for the ICC Champions Trophy, are expected to attend the Awards ceremony.

"With so many ad hoc cricket awards around the globe, I think it's great that world cricket now has an awards ceremony with genuine meaning – where winners are decided by their peers and recognised in front of an international audience," said Ricky Ponting, Australia's captain.

"I know how much the Australian players value the Allan Border Medal at the end of our home season, so to see a similar concept evolve on a world scale is terrific news. To have players from all nations in attendance will be something special. Let's hope it develops into a lasting tradition."

Graeme Smith, South Africa's captain, agreed with Ponting's comments, saying "For a player there can be no greater accolade than to be judged by one's peers and those who are intimately involved in the game.

"The ICC Awards are an exciting addition to the cricket scene and will add a new dimension to the game at the highest level," he added. "The depth of knowledge and first-hand experience of the game on the voting academy lends great significance to the awards."


Seven awards, in two categories – individual and team – will be presented on the night. The awards include cricketer of the year, Test and one-day player and team of the year, and emerging player of the year, as well as a spirit of cricket award.


The awards will be judged by an academy made up of current captains, umpires, former prominent players and respected media representatives. The Test and one-day teams of the year will both be World XI sides made up of the best individual international players in the respective forms of the game.

In addition to the seven player-related awards, an award will be presented to the umpire of the year. The judging period for the ICC Awards is August 1 2003 to July 31 2004 and includes all Tests and One-Day Internationals played during this time, with Malcolm Speed, ICC chief executive, making the point that the awards will "generate a great deal of interest, discussion and debate in the cricket community about nominations and selections."

Marvan Atapattu, the Sri Lankan captain, said creating the different award categories meant that all international players had the chance to be acknowledged and recognised for their performance at the highest level. "This is a great incentive by the ICC to honour the players who have shone in international cricket during the year."


The awards were established by the ICC in association with the Federation of International Cricketers' Association (FICA). Tim May, chief executive of FICA, said the ICC Awards were an important way to ensure players around the world are acknowledged for their performances. "In presenting these awards in conjunction with the ICC, FICA is able to continue its tradition of honouring the world's best-performed cricketers on an annual basis," he said.


Michael Vaughan, who will have the task of voting on the awards as part of the academy, said he will be giving plenty of thought when casting his vote in the various categories. He also added to comments made by Smith and Ponting, saying "I think that the awards will really mean something to individual players because their efforts will have been acknowledged by their peers and colleagues.

"This is a good idea and I'm sure that it will become a fixture in the international cricket calendar," he added.

Cricinfo

Is Bangladesh or any of our tigers are compatible for any field of this award?

[Zunaid]

Originally posted by Navarene
Is Bangladesh or any of our tigers are compatible for any field of this award?

Not that I can see but perhaps the "spirit" award

[Navarene]

The individual awards are:

~Cricketer of the Year
~Test Player of the Year
~One-day International Player of the Year
~Emergine Player of the Year

The team awards are:

~Test team of the Year
~One-Day International team of the Year
~Spirit of Cricket award

Zunaid Bhai, I second your thought

[Zephaniah]

Originally posted by Zunaid

Not that I can see but perhaps the "spirit" award

Md. Rafique is a VERY strong candidate for 'Spirit of Cricket award' this year for showing true spirit of the game in Multan test by not attempting to get the non-striker out when he was far away from the crease, backing up too far - a cricket analyst would say, in the crucial phase of the match. Actually i would be surprized if he doesn't get it. I could not remember a single incident like that in international cricket in a year time. BD eventually lost the test match by one wicket which could be it's first ever test victory makes the act a phenomenal one.

Md. Rafique should win 'Spirit of Cricket award' by miles.

[AsifTheManRahman]

rafique is in the habit of doing this pretty regularly...he did it against india A once, in a saarc tournament.