And the nominees for the ICC Awards are……..


The ICC today announced the nominees in the four individual player categories for next month's ICC Awards, presented by Hyundai in association with FICA.

The individual player categories are:

• Emerging Player of the Year;
• One-Day International Player of the Year;
• Test Player of the Year; and
• Player of the Year.

A total of 29 players from nine of the ICC's 10 Full Member countries have been nominated for awards, with the inaugural presentation to take place at London's Alexandra Palace on Tuesday 7 September.

Six players – Andrew Flintoff (England), Matthew Hayden (Australia) Jacques Kallis (South Africa), VVS Laxman (India), Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) and Ricky Ponting (Australia) have scooped the nominations, with each being nominated for the three senior individual awards.

Australia have the most number of players nominated for individual awards (six), followed by India (five), while the West Indies and Pakistan each have four players in contention to win awards.

Only Australia, India and the West Indies have players nominated in all four individual categories.

In a strong sign for the future strength of their sides, Pakistan have three players nominated for Emerging Player of the Year - Imran Farhat, Umar Gul and Yasir Hameed – while the West Indies have two players in contention – Tino Best and Devon Smith.

ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said it was encouraging to see players from nearly all countries nominated for Awards.

"It is certainly encouraging and it heightens the interest and anticipation ahead of the ceremony to have so many different players in contention to win awards," said Mr Speed.

"The strength of the ICC Awards is that all players, umpires and teams have the chance to be recognised.

"Players in both forms of the game, as well as the best young player in the world have the opportunity to win an award and of course the night is capped off by naming the world's best Player of the Year.

"The cricket world is looking forward with excitement and enthusiasm to the ICC Awards in September."

The players nominated for the individual awards were chosen by the five-man ICC Awards selection panel comprising Richie Benaud (chairman), Ian Botham, Sunil Gavaskar, Michael Holding and Barry Richards.

Selection was based on the players' performances over the course of the 12-month judging period (1 August 2003 to 31 July 2004), and the experience, judgment and knowledge of the panel members.

Benaud acknowledged the enormity of the task ahead, but confirmed the panel's commitment to approaching it with diligence and responsibility.

"The first thing about being on a five-person panel of this kind is for us to realise what degree of difficulty lies ahead," said Mr Benaud.

"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."

Voting for the awards will be complete by Monday 23 August.

The 50-member Voting Academy - which includes current captains, match officials, respected media representatives and legends of the game - will each cast a 3-2-1 vote (3 votes being the higher value) from the list of nominees in the individual award categories.

The winners will be announced in a gala ceremony at London's Alexandra Palace on the evening of Tuesday 7 September. All international players who are in London at the time of the event preparing for the ICC Champions Trophy, are invited to attend.

A total of eight awards will be presented on the night in two categories – five individual awards and three team awards:

Individual awards:

• Cricketer of the Year;
• Test Player of the Year;
• One-Day International Player of the Year;
• Emerging Player of the Year; and
• Umpire of the Year.

Team awards:

• Test Team of the Year;
• One-Day International Team of the Year; and
• Spirit of Cricket Award.

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 the five-man ICC Awards selection panel lead by Richie Benaud.

The Spirit of Cricket award will be presented to one international team determined by the captains and match referees.

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.

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.

The nominees for the Emerging Player of the Year are:

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)

The nominees for the One-Day International Player of the Year are:

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)
Abdur Razzaq (Pakistan)
Sachin Tendulkar (India)
Heath Streak (Zimbabwe)
Andrew Symonds (Australia)
Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka)
Daniel Vettori (New Zealand)

The nominees for the Test Player of the Year are:

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)

The nominees for the Player of the Year are:

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)

Limited tickets for the ICC Awards are still available. For more information, visit www.icc-cricket.com.

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Nice one RW,
Thats all it says on the BBC ceefax,good to see Murali in there as well.

I would have liked to have seen an English nomination for emerging player.

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Ern

Yeah, I think Andy Strauss is more deserving of a place in that list than Tino Best. Infact, he's pretty much done more than all of them in the list.

To right,he was really under pressure,and he has not caved in,he deserved at least a mention.

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Ern

much as i agree that Strauss is worthy of a placeon there - isnt he 27?? i may be wrong but thats probably the only reason why he isnt on there - jusging by the criteria

"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. "

To be fair.. the nominations from the sub-continent are so strong in the "emerging player" category that a guy like best is really just making up the numbers: Clarke strikes me as the only non-subcontinental challenger. Tough calls in the other categories though: easy enough to pick out some of the also-rans.. but not so easy to see clear favourites.

Emerging player's got to be Irfan Pathan, surely. The lads already considered by his captain as his premier and my reliable seamer and he's only been playing for IND for about a year! Some of his spells in the Asia cup couldn't have been bettered by anyone if the commentary was anything to go by.

Bats pretty well too. About as good a No. 8 as your likely to find.

Lets just say I rate him a bit .........

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Still, a man hears what he wants to hear

And disregards the rest.

Emerging Player of the Year

Devon Smith

ODI player of the year
Andrew Flintoff

Test player of the year

Andrew Flintoff

Player of the year

Steve Harminson

Test Team of the Year;
ENGLAND



One-Day International Team of the Year
SRI LANKA



Spirit of Cricket Award
New Zealand

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I have a dream.... (Martin Luther King)

Results

Cricketer of the year: Rahul Dravid (India)
Test player of the year: Rahul Dravid (India)
ODI player of the year: Andrew Flintoff (England)
Emerging player of the year: Irfan Pathan (India)
Umpire of the year: Simon Taufel (Australia)
Spirit of cricket award: New Zealand
ODI side World one-day XI
1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Chris Gayle, 4 Ricky Ponting (capt), 5 Brian Lara, 6 Virender Sehwag, 7 Jacques Kallis, 8 Andrew Flintoff, 9 Shaun Pollock, 10 Chaminda Vaas, 11 Jason Gillespie.



Test Side World Test XI
1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Rahul Dravid, 5 Brian Lara, 6 Jacques Kallis, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Shane Warne, 10 Jason Gillespie, 11 Stephen Harmison.




Truely bad predictions once again by me , only 2 correct, and I completly missed Dravid and Pathan. I also missed the point completly of the ODI/Test teams!!

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I have a dream.... (Martin Luther King)

I can go further than that: I don't understand the point of the whole exercise. Presumably just another one of these celebrity love-ins which are all over the calendar like a rash these days. Get on with the game, guys!