Short-lists announced for ICC Awards 2007

Ricky Ponting, Mohammad Yousuf, Kevin Pietersen and Shivnarine Chanderpaul have all been short-listed for the top honour at the ICC Awards 2007

Brian Murgatroyd

05-Sep-2007

Ricky Ponting, Mohammad Yousuf, Kevin Pietersen and Shivnarine Chanderpaul have all been short-listed for the top honour at the ICC Awards 2007.

The four players are in the running to receive the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy as the Cricketer of the Year, to be presented at a gala function in Johannesburg, South Africa on 10 September.

Ponting secured the top award last year along with the prize for being the top Test player, and this time around he is the only player to make the short-list in four categories.

The Australia captain, who enjoyed another stellar 12 months in 2006/07 as his team won the ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC Cricket World Cup (the latter for an unprecedented third time) and also regained The Ashes, is in the frame for Test Player of the Year, ODI Player of the Year and Captain of the Year as well as the Cricketer of the Year awards.

Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf is potentially in line to collect two prizes, having made the short-list for Cricketer of the Year and Test Player of the Year, while Kevin Pietersen of England is also short-listed for those two awards.

West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul is the fourth player in contention to win the coveted Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy as he completes the short-list for Cricketer of the Year.

The short-lists have been compiled from long-lists of nominations after votes were submitted by members of the 56-member ICC Academy.

The ICC Academy is made up of captains from the ten ICC Full Members, the ten Emirates Elite Panel ICC Umpires and eight Emirates Elite Panel ICC Match Referees, together with 28 legends and media, comprising journalists and outstanding past players.

The short-list for the Emerging Player of the Year is made up of four nominees -Australia fast-bowling discovery Shaun Tait, Bangladesh star Shakib Al Hasan, New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor and England's Ravi Bopara.

To qualify for that award a player has to be under the age of 26 and have played fewer than five Tests and/or 10 ODIs at the start of the voting period, 9 August 2006.

In all, there are eight individual awards this year including a new one for the Associate ODI Player of the Year. This award serves to recognise and reward the efforts in ODIs of the outstanding cricketer from the six countries outside the ICC Full Members - Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands and Scotland.

The short-list for that award includes two players from Kenya - Steve Tikolo and Thomas Odoyo - one from the Netherlands (Ryan ten Doeschate) and one from Canada (Ashish Bagai).

The short-list for the Women's Cricketer of the Year is made up of England's Claire Taylor, Jhulan Goswami of India and Australia's Lisa Sthalekar.

Based on the 12 months between 9 August 2006 and 8 August 2007, this year's ICC Awards - presented in association with FICA (the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations) - takes into account performances by players and officials in a remarkable period for the game.

That period includes last year's ICC Champions Trophy in India, the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean, a record-breaking Ashes series and a plethora of individual feats.

ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said that the voting process was building towards an exciting event in Johannesburg on 10 September.

"The players that have made it through to the short-lists are all exciting talents who performed exceptionally during the year under review," said Mr Speed.

"The fourth annual ICC Awards night promises to be a fantastic evening with some very interesting decisions set to be announced."

The nominations for five of the individual awards - Emerging Player of the Year, Captain of the Year, Test Player of the Year, ODI Player of the Year, Cricketer of the Year - and were made by a five-man ICC selection panel led by former India captain Sunil Gavaskar.

That panel also included Chris Cairns, the former New Zealand all-rounder, ex-South Africa batsman Gary Kirsten, Iqbal Qasim, the former Pakistan left-arm spinner, and ex-England captain Alec Stewart.

Mr Gavaskar said that making the short-lists was an achievement in itself.

"No matter who wins these trophies on 10 September, all of those who have made the short-lists should be immensely proud of their efforts," he said.

"It means they are among the very best performed players over the 12 month period under consideration and given there were so many outstanding feats by a whole host of players in that time, that is no mean achievement."

Selection was based on the players' performances over the course of the 12-month judging period (9 August 2006 to 8 August 2007).

For the Associate ODI Player of the Year prize, each of the six countries eligible was asked to nominate players and the ICC Academy then votes on those nominations.

As well as the eight individual awards, there are also three team awards: Test Team of the Year, ODI Team of the Year and the Spirit of Cricket Award.

Selection for the Test and ODI teams will be made by the selection panel. 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 individual awards, a trophy will also be presented to the Umpire of the Year. Three-time winner of this award Simon Taufel has again been nominated in the short-list, this time along with Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor. All three are members of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires.

For the Women's Cricketer of the Year, each ICC Member that played international cricket during the period under consideration is eligible to nominate two players.

The resultant list is then voted upon by an academy of 17 leading former players and influential figures in the women's game including members of the media.

The ICC Awards ceremony, this year presented in association with FICA, is now in its fourth year and this will be the first time it has been staged in South Africa. Previous ceremonies were held in London (2004), Sydney (2005) and Mumbai (2006).

The ICC wishes to thank its commercial partners for the ICC Awards, LG and Swarovski (manufacturers of each ICC Award), and its broadcast partner ESPN STAR Sports.

MEDIA NOTE:

The ICC Awards 2007 will this year take place at the Sandton Convention Centre, Sandton, Johannesburg. Media interested in covering the event, at a fully-equipped media centre inside the venue, should apply via email to Sheila Razdan at the ICC. Sheila can be contacted at Sheila.razdan@icc-cricket.com. Exact details of arrangements for media will be announced in due course.

Those short-listed for the Emerging Player of the Year are:

Ravi Bopara (Eng)
Shakib Al Hasan (Ban)
Shaun Tait (Aus)
Ross Taylor (NZ)

Those short-listed for the ODI Player of the Year are:

Matthew Hayden (Aus)
Jacques Kallis (SA)
Glenn McGrath (Aus)
Ricky Ponting (Aus)

Those short-listed for the Test Player of the Year are:

Muttiah Muralidaran (SL)
Kevin Pietersen (Eng)
Ricky Ponting (Aus)
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)

Those short-listed for the Cricketer of the Year (with the winner receiving the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy) are:

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)
Kevin Pietersen (Eng)
Ricky Ponting (Aus)
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)

Those short-listed for the Associate ODI Player of the Year are:

Ashish Bagai (Can)
Ryan ten Doeschate (Nth)
Thomas Odoyo (Ken)
Steve Tikolo (Ken)

Those short-listed for the Women's Cricketer of the Year are:

Jhulan Goswami (Ind)
Lisa Sthalekar (Aus)
Claire Taylor (Eng)

Those short-listed for the Umpire of the Year are:

Mark Benson
Steve Bucknor
Simon Taufel

Those short-list for the Captain of the Year are:

Mahela Jayawardena (SL)
Ricky Ponting (Aus)

The teams short-listed for the Spirit of Cricket Award are:

Australia
Ireland
New Zealand
Sri Lanka

Brian Murgatroyd is ICC Manager - Media and Communications