BOMBAY, 11 July 2004 — What the whole wide world of organized sports, including the controllers of mega events like the Olympics and World Cup football, have ever dared to attempt, the International Cricket Council has decided to do. The apex body for the game has elaborately planned to institute “Oscars” in true Hollywood style.
The moment cricket aficionados were waiting for has finally arrived. International cricket’s most outstanding players and teams of the past 12 months will be honored with the inauguration of a series of awards to be presented at a gala ceremony in England this September.
ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said the awards provided a unique celebration and annual opportunity to recognize individual and team performance over the past year. “The establishment of the ICC Awards is a significant and important initiative for international cricket, and for the players in particular,” said Speed.
With seven different awards, cricketers in both forms of the game can be duly recognized for their performances. 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, are expected to attend the Awards ceremony on Sept. 7.
A voting panel 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 team awards will see the announcement of official ICC World XI teams in both Test and One-Day International cricket. The gala event, to be staged at London’s prestigious Alexandra Palace, will become an annual feature on the international cricket calendar. The awards have been established by the ICC in association with the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA).
The Individual awards include: The Cricketer of the Year; Test Player of the Year; One-Day International Player of the Year; and 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.
Players eligible for the Emerging Player of the Year award must be under 26-years-of-age at the start of the voting period (Aug. 1, 2003) and have played no more than five Test matches and/or 10 One-Day Internationals before the start of the voting period. All this is fine but hasn’t this announcement, ambitious as it is, come as something of a bolt from the blue. From the reaction of the players, it is obvious that they were not even aware that such plans were even blooming.
How fair would these awards be? Will they not ultimately lead to heart-burning on the part of the players and cricketing nations?
Such awards will have real meaning if all the playing nations are given equal opportunities and a level playing field. For instance, India and Indian players may play more Tests and ODIs than say the West Indies. The ratio with regard to other countries may also be lop-sided. How do you then judge the individual and team performances?
We, in India, ourselves find it extremely difficult to pick our own best cricketer what with such fierce competition amongst the top batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S Laxman and Saurav Ganguly. The bowlers themselves have to compete against each other, first for a place in the team and then for ultimate recognition.
With no less than 14 nations vying with each other, one can imagine the wide disparity that may crop up in judging these awards. One is also not ruling out the clash of egos of the leading sponsors, who support one team or the other.
With all good intentions, one is not sure whether the International Cricket Council has not opened a Pandora’s box. Let us first see whether the 50-member academy, that will sit in judgment, is it self fairly and most impartially constituted.
