Tickets on sale for cricket's 'Oscars' in September

Cricket fans now have the chance to join the world's best players at cricket's night of nights in September after the ICC today announced ticket details for the ICC Awards - presented by Hyundai in association with FICA.

Billed as the `Oscars' of world cricket, the ICC Awards will honour the game's most outstanding players and teams of the past 12 months at a gala event at London's Alexandra Palace on 7 September.

Players from all Full Member countries, as well as Kenya and the United States of America, who will be in London preparing for the ICC Champions Trophy beginning on 10 September, are invited to attend the ceremony.

They will be joined by special guests including some of the game's legendary players who form part of the illustrious voting academy that has been established specifically to vote on the individual player awards.

It is the first time the event has been staged, and it is expected to become an annual feature of the international cricket calendar.

Limited tables of 10 are now available for members of the public to purchase from the following agents:

Seven player-related awards will be presented on the night in two categories: individual and team awards.

In addition to the seven player-related awards, an award will be presented to the Umpire of the Year. This will be judged from the marks awarded by captains and referees over the course of the year.

A voting Academy of up to 50 cricket luminaries - including present captains, match officials and former prominent players - is being established to vote on the individual awards.

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.

The Test Team of the Year and the One-Day International 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 and a twelfth man.

Players eligible for the Emerging Player of the Year award must be under 26-years-of-age at the start of the voting period (1 August 2003) and have played no more than five Test matches and/or 10 One-Day Internationals before the start of the voting period.

The Spirit of Cricket award will be presented to one international team determined by the captains and match referees. The number and nature of any ICC Code of Conduct violations by a team will also be taken into consideration by ICC Management when assessing the award.

The judging period for the ICC Awards is 1 August 2003 to 31 July 2004 and includes all Test and One-Day International matches played during this time.