England win Spirit of Cricket award

For the second year running England have won the Spirit of Cricket Award at the ICC Awards ceremony which, for the first time, is being held in Mumbai.

Opinions are gathered from the elite panel of umpires and referees, as well as the captains of the ten Test sides, as to which side has best conducted itself on the field "within the spirit of the game".

The award was presented to David Morgan, the ECB chief executive, by Brett Lee, the Australia fast bowler, following an address by Percy Sonn who touched on the subject of the Spirit of Cricket.

"Part of the reason of why we love this game so much is because it has a unique spirit in the way it is played," Sonn said. "It is that spirit that we have honoured here tonight. Although we rightly applaud the winners of the various awards tonight, I think they would agree that all of us are a product of the great tapestry of our humanity and that cricket is a wonderful vehicle to inspire young people while exciting and entertaining everyone."

Lee, Australia's Spirit of Cricket ambassador for the current ICC Champions Trophy, said "It's about a love for the game. It's about playing fairly and squarely and playing the game in the right spirit. There's nothing wrong with playing hard so long as it's within the rules and the spirit of the game."

Accepting the award, Morgan said: "The health of the game is dependent on the continued good spirit within the game and I am delighted that the spirit of cricket is in such good health."

England has now won the award twice since New Zealand first took the honour at the inaugural ICC Awards in 2004