Mahela recognized for his spirit

4 December 2013 08:14 pm

Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has been nominated for the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award for this year for walking before being given out while he was on 91 in a Test match against New Zealand. Interestingly Jayawardene had been nominated for the award by a rival New Zealand player.

The ICC media release described Jayawardene’s award this way:

“Mahela Jayawardena, batting on 91 with Sri Lanka on 229-7, gloves Jeetan Patel’s delivery and is caught at the wicket by New Zealand wicketkeeper Kruger van Wyk and starts walking before the umpire raised his finger. The nomination has come from a member of the New Zealand squad who felt Mahela’s actions were deserving of recommendation for the award as it happened at a very crucial stage of the match and Mahela, whose side was in some bother, walked without even waiting for an umpire’s decision”.

England’s James Anderson, South Africa’s Hashim Amla and Australia captain Michael Clarke have all been short-listed for the top honours at this year’s LG ICC Awards 2013.

The three cricketers have been short-listed for both the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Cricketer of the Year and the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year, with the awards to be announced in a TV show that will be broadcast on 14 December.

The votes for the LG ICC Awards 2013 short-lists have now been cast by the independent, 32-person voting academy*, and these three men, alongside England captain Alastair Cook, India captain MS Dhoni and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara, are the nominees in the running to receive the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy.

Also featuring in the short-list for the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year Award alongside Anderson, Amla and Clarke, are Dale Steyn of South Africa and the Indian duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Cheteshwar Pujara.

The LG ICC Awards shortlists, which were announced today in Mumbai by ICC Chief Executive David Richardson, see 12 different ICC Members represented across the categories for the top individual prizes in international cricket.

Both Sangakkara and Dhoni also feature in the short-list for the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year, which also includes the Pakistan duo of Saeed Ajmal and Misbah ul-Haq, as well as the Indian pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Ravindra Jadeja.

The Twenty20 International (T20I) Performance of the year sees Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis being short-listed alongside Pakistan’s Umar Gul and New Zealanders Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum.

In the short-list for the ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year, last year’s winner Stafanie Taylor is joined by New Zealand captain Suzie Bates, Australia’s Meg Lanning, South Africa’s Dane van Niekerk and the England pair of Charlotte Edwards and Anya Shrubsole.

Taylor, Bates and Lanning also feature in the short-list for the ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year, along with England’s Sarah Taylor and the West Indies duo of Shanel Daley and Deandra Dottin.

This year’s LG ICC Awards includes 11 individual prizes, including the LG People’s Choice Award**.

The long-lists of nominations for each award were put together by a five-person ICC selection panel, before a 32-member voting academy trimmed the nominees to the short-lists announced today.

The ICC selection panel was chaired by former India captain and current chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee Anil Kumble. The panel also includes former internationals Alec Stewart of England, Catherine Campbell of New Zealand, Waqar Younis of Pakistan and Graeme Pollock of South Africa, while the academy comprises highly credentialed cricket personalities from around the world*, and include a host of former players, respected members of the media as well as representatives of the Emirates Elite Panels of ICC Umpires and ICC Match Referees.

The David Shepherd Trophy for the ICC Umpire of the Year award was voted on by the 10 current Test captains and the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees and is partly based on the umpires’ performance statistics. The nominees are the 12 Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires.

The ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year short-list features New Zealand’s Trent Boult, India’s Cheteshwar Pujara, Joe Root of England and Mitchell Starc of Australia.

To qualify for the ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year Award, a player must be under the age of 26 and have played fewer than five Tests and/or 10 ODIs and/or five T20Is at the start of the performance period.

The ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year award serves to recognise and reward the efforts in international matches of the outstanding cricketers from the teams outside the ICC Full Members.

This year’s short-list sees two nominees coming from Ireland in the form of Kevin O’Brien and Ed Joyce, alongside Kyle Coetzer of Scotland and Nawroz Mangal of Afghanistan.

Based on the period between 7 August 2012 and 25 August 2013, the LG ICC Awards 2013 take into account performances by players and officials in a remarkable period for the game.

That period includes such high-profile events as the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012, the ICC Women’s World Cup 2013 held in India, the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 held in England and Wales, various rounds of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, numerous Pepsi ICC World Cricket League and Championship fixtures, and several bilateral Test, ODI and T20I series.

The LG ICC Awards is now in its 10th year, and this year will be broadcast as a TV show. Previous ceremonies were held in London (2004 and 2011), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006), Johannesburg (2007 and 2009), Dubai (2008), Bengaluru (2010) and Colombo (2012).

LG ICC Awards 2013

Short-lists of nominees (in alphabetical order)
Individual Awards
Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year
Hashim Amla (SA)
James Anderson (Eng)
Michael Clarke (Aus)
Alastair Cook (Eng)
MS Dhoni (Ind)
Kumar Sangakkara (SL)
ICC Test Cricketer of the Year
Hashim Amla (SA)
James Anderson (Eng)
Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind)
Michael Clarke (Aus)
Cheteshwar Pujara (Ind)
Dale Steyn (SA)
ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year
Saeed Ajmal (Pak)
Shikhar Dhawan (Ind)
MS Dhoni (Ind)
Misbah ul-Haq (Pak)
Ravindra Jadeja (Ind)
Kumar Sangakkara (SL)
ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year
Suzie Bates (NZ)
Charlotte Edwards (Eng)
Meg Lanning (Aus)
Dane van Niekerk (SA)
Anya Shrubsole (Eng)
Stafanie Taylor (WI)
ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year
Trent Boult (NZ)
Cheteshwar Pujara (Ind)
Joe Root (Eng)
Mitchell Starc (Aus)
ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year
Kevin O’Brien (Ire)
Kyle Coetzer (Scot)
Ed Joyce (Ire)
Nawroz Mangal (Afg)

ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year

Umar Gul (Pak) (SL) – 2.2-0-6-5 v South Africa, Centurion, 3 March 2013
Martin Guptill (NZ) – 101no (69b, 9x4, 6x6) v South Africa, East London, 23 December 2012
Brendon McCullum (NZ) – 123 (53b, 11x4, 7x6) v Bangladesh, Pallekele, 1 October 2012
Ajanth Mendis (SL) – 4-2-8-6 v Zimbabwe, Hambantota, 18 September 2012
ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year
Suzie Bates (NZ)
Shanel Daley (WI)
Deandra Dottin (WI)
Meg Lanning (Aus)
Sarah Taylor (Eng)
Stafanie Taylor (WI)
David Shepherd Trophy for

ICC Umpire of the Year

Aleem Dar
Steve Davis
Kumar Dharmasena
Marais Erasmus
Ian Gould
Tony Hill
Richard Illingworth
Richard Kettleborough
Nigel Llong
Bruce Oxenford
Paul Reiffel
Rodney Tucker
ICC Spirit of Cricket
Mahela Jayawardena (SL)
Sri Lanka v New Zealand, first Test, November 2012, Galle, Sri Lanka.
Mahela Jayawardena, batting on 91 with Sri Lanka on 229-7, gloves Jeetan Patel’s delivery and is caught at the wicket by New Zealand wicketkeeper Kruger van Wyk and starts walking before the umpire raised his finger. The nomination has come from a member of the New Zealand squad who felt Mahela’s actions were deserving of recommendation for the award as it happened at a very crucial stage of the match and Mahela, whose side was in some bother, walked without even waiting for an umpire’s decision.
Farhad Reza (Bang)
Pakistan v Bangladesh, ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012, Group Stage match, 25 September 2012.
Farhad Reza of Bangladesh, in an attempt to catch Pakistan opener Nasir Jamshed, touches the boundary.  Before the on-field umpires refer the catch to the third umpire, the 26-year-old Bangladeshi signals a six, confirming that his foot had touched the boundary. This was done with minimum fuss.
LG People’s Choice Award
Alastair Cook (Eng)
Michael Clarke (Aus)
MS Dhoni (Ind)
Virat Kohli (Ind)
AB de Villiers (SA)
** The LG People’s Choice Award short-list of five players was selected by the Selection Panel. The winner is chosen by cricket fans from across the globe who began voting on 2 November. The voting process closes on 23 November 2013.

*Note: The 32-person independent voting academy is made up of:

Former cricketers – Brendon Julien (Aus), Shelley Nitschke (Aus Women), Habibul Bashar (Bang), John Emburey (Eng), Claire Taylor (Eng Women), Kiran More (Ind), Sudha Shah (Ind Women), Mark Richardson (NZ), Lesley Murdoch (NZ Women), Mudassar Nazar (Pak), Jonty Rhodes (SA), Kerri Lang (SA Women), Chaminda Vaas (SL), Daren Ganga (WI), Mpumelelo Nbangwa (Zim), Gavin Hamilton (Scot – Assoc & Aff Rep)

Media – Jesse Hogan (Aus), Atif Azam (Bang), Dean Wilson (Eng), Alison Mitchell (Women’s Media Rep), Sanjeev Samyal (Ind), Mark Geenty (NZ), Saleem Khaliq (Pak), Firdose Moonda (SA), Callistus Davy (SL), Barry Wilkinson (WI), Michael Madyira (Zimbabwe), Liaquat Ali (Assoc & Aff Rep), Josina Luke (Women’s Committee Rep)

Representative of Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees – Andy Pycroft
Representative of Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires – Steve Davis

Chairman of ICC Cricket Committee – Anil Kumble.