ICC panel unveils its award nominations

VVS Laxman is the only Indian to be nominated in all three senior categories by the ICC for their inaugural awards ceremony, to be held at Alexandra Palace in London on Tuesday, September 7. The awards, which have been billed as cricket's equivalent of the Oscars, will be a glamorous curtain-raiser for the Champions Trophy, which begins three days later with matches at The Oval and Edgbaston.

Laxman had an extremely consistent 2003-04 season, scoring 897 runs in nine Tests at 74.75, but it was his one-day success which raised more eyebrows - 799 runs in 21 games at an average of over 44, with five hundreds. His performances meant that he was one of six players to be nominated for the top three categories - Test Player of the Year, One-Day Player of the Year, and the biggest prize of all - Cricketer of The Year. The other triple nominees are Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden of Australia, Andrew Flintoff of England, South Africa's Jacques Kallis and Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan. Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag have been nominated in two categories, while Sachin Tendulkar has only been nominated in the one-day category.

A total of 29 players have been nominated for the awards, and nine of the ten Test-playing countries are represented. Australia, with six, are the country with the most nominees, followed by India (five), and West Indies and Pakistan (four). "It is certainly encouraging to have so many different players in contention to win awards," said Malcolm Speed, the chief executive of the ICC. "It heightens the interest and anticipation ahead of the ceremony."

In addition to the big three categories, there is a fourth individual player award - Emerging Player of the Year - which is only open to those who are under 26 on August 1, and had played no more than five Tests or ten one-day internationals before the start of the voting period. Encouragingly for Pakistan cricket, which has been in the doldrums of late, they have three players in contention - Imran Farhat, Umar Gul and Yasir Hameed - while Tino Best and Devon Smith are both in the mix for West Indies.

The players nominated for the individual awards were chosen by the five-man ICC Awards selection panel comprising Richie Benaud (the chairman), Ian Botham, Sunil Gavaskar, Michael Holding and Barry Richards. The period under review by the judges ran from August 1, 2003 to July 31, 2004, and the whole thing was acknowledged by Benaud to be an extremely tough job. "The first thing about being on a five-person panel of this kind is for us to realise what degree of difficulty lies ahead," he said. "The main problem will be in excluding players from the short list, even though they are brilliant cricketers. It is a challenge, and one approached by Ian, Sunil, Michael, Barry and me, with considerable anticipation."

Some of those exclusions will no doubt raise eyebrows. There is no recognition for three of the top five Test wicket-takers of the last year - Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini and Anil Kumble - while Pakistan's Yasir Hameed is limited to the emerging players' category, despite being the leading runscorer overall in one-day cricket over the past year. India's Irfan Pathan is another emerging player overlooked for the main awards, while Pakistan's Mohammad Sami, one-day cricket's leading wicket-taker, is also out of the running.

In addition, there will be an award for the leading umpire of the year, team awards for the best Test and one-day sides of the past 12 months, and a special Spirit of Cricket award, to be presented to one international team, as determined by the captains and match referees. The voting period for the awards closes on Monday, August 23.

Tino Best (West Indies)
Michael Clarke (Australia)
Imran Farhat (Pakistan)
Umar Gul (Pakistan)
Yasir Hameed (Pakistan)
Hamish Marshall (New Zealand)
Irfan Pathan (India)
Devon Smith (West Indies)

Stephen Fleming (New Zealand)
Andrew Flintoff (England)
Chris Gayle (West Indies)
Adam Gilchrist (Australia)
Jason Gillespie (Australia)
Matthew Hayden (Australia)
Jacques Kallis (South Africa)
VVS Laxman (India)
Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)
Shaun Pollock (South Africa)
Ricky Ponting (Australia)
Abdul Razzaq (Pakistan)
Sachin Tendulkar (India)
Heath Streak (Zimbabwe)
Andrew Symonds (Australia)
Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka)
Daniel Vettori (New Zealand)

Rahul Dravid (India)
Andrew Flintoff (England)
Adam Gilchrist (Australia)
Jason Gillespie (Australia)
Steve Harmison (England)
Matthew Hayden (Australia)
Brian Lara (West Indies)
VVS Laxman (India)
Jacques Kallis (South Africa)
Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)
Ricky Ponting (Australia)
Virender Sehwag (India)

Rahul Dravid (India)
Andrew Flintoff (England)
Steve Harmison (England)
Matthew Hayden (Australia)
Jacques Kallis (South Africa)
Brian Lara (West Indies)
VVS Laxman (India)
Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)
Ricky Ponting (Australia)
Virender Sehwag (India)