ICC name first 12 for voting academy

The ICC has named Kapil Dev, Michael Holding and Ian Healy among 12 former players and media representatives for the voting academy to select the world's best players of the past 12 months at the first ICC Awards in September.

The others are the former players Michael Atherton, Martin Crowe, Sunil Gavaskar, Dave Houghton, Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards and Sidath Wettimuny, plus Rajan Bala (from the Asian Age in India) and Tony Cozier, the respected West Indian commentator.

"With an esteemed judging academy including current players, officials and legends of the game established specifically to select the award winners, we know the adjudication process will be a fair, measured and carefully considered approach resulting in worthy winners," said Malcolm Speed, the ICC's chief executive.

"The ICC Awards are firmly about recognising and honouring international cricket's most outstanding players of the past 12 months," he added. "There is no better way to receive that acknowledgment than to be judged by your peers and by those whose views and opinions on international cricket are widely respected. The strength of the ICC Awards rests on the selection process to judge the award winners."

Among the awards to be presented will be Cricketer of the Year, Test Player of the Year, One-Day International Player of the Year and Emerging Player of the Year, while there will be team awards for Test Team of the Year, One-Day International Team of the Year and a Spirit of Cricket Award. The "legends and media" group will make up half of the 50-member voting academy.