Second ICC awards to be held in Sydney

Player of the Year and Test Player of the Year Rahul Dravid at last year's awards © Getty Images

The ICC has announced that its second annual awards will take place in Sydney on Tuesday, October 11. The event will be held three days before the start of the inaugural Super Series Test, also in Sydney, and so will be attended by the great and the good of the game.

Malcolm Speed, the ICC's chief executive, said that the event would be a celebration of the achievements of the game's best players. "With seven player-related awards there are opportunities for cricketers in both forms of the game to be recognised," he told reporters. "The winners will be selected by a voting academy comprising many of the greats of the game, making the ICC awards the `Oscars' of international cricket."

Tim May, the chief executive of FICA, the international players' association, said that the ICC awards were an important part of the international calendar for the world's top players. "The players entertain so many people in so many different parts of the world and it is only fitting that their contributions should be acknowledged through these Awards in front of a worldwide TV audience."

A voting academy comprising present captains, match officials, former prominent players and respected media representatives will vote on the individual awards, while an elite selection panel will be responsible for picking the team awards.

The individual awards are:

Cricketer of the Year; Test Player of the Year;

One-Day International Player of the Year

Emerging Player of the Year.

The team awards are:

Test Team of the Year;

One-Day International Team of the Year; and

Spirit of Cricket Award.

The academy will cast votes for the individual awards from a shortlist of players identified on the basis of their performances over the course of the judging period. Players eligible for the Emerging Player of the Year award must be under 26 years-of-age at the start of the voting period (August 1, 2004) and have played no more than five Test matches and/or 10 ODIs before the start of the voting period.

The Test Team of the Year and the ODI Team of the Year will both be World XI sides made up of the best individual international players in the respective forms of the game. Selection for the World XI teams will be made by an ICC selection panel of five former high profile players to be appointed by the ICC. The teams will include a nominated captain.

The Spirit of Cricket award will be presented to one international team determined by the captains and match referees. In addition to the seven player-related awards, an award will be presented to the Umpire of the Year.

At the 2004 Awards, which were held in London, Rahul Dravid was named Player of the Year and Test Player of the Year while Andrew Flintoff was the ODI Player of the Year.