ICC Cricket Awards:  The ICC's prestigious sixth annual awards appear to have run into a controversy with several high-profile figures from South Africa criticizing the final selection process for not including even a single South African player. The ICC Awards ceremony is now in its sixth year and this year it will be held in Johannesburg to coincide with the ICC Champions Trophy. Previous ceremonies were held in London (2004), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006), Johannesburg (2007) and Dubai (2008). Majola, the South Africa’s national cricket board chief executive questioned the credibility of the awards and said it appeared to him that the only way to get on the shortlist was to play the Ashes. One can raise various questions on the selection. How Graham Onions featured in the Emerging player of the year list? Before being short listed, he has played hardly 5 or 10 tests and do not have nothing great like Parnell or Duminy in him. Same applies for Ryder. They had done nothing outside their home conditions. It seems that the countries which do not play cricket in the latter part of the year will be totally forgotten.  Selection Criteria: An ICC spokesperson said that the awards nomination "is a completely independent process in which the ICC has no says whatsoever". The long list of nominations for the individual awards was prepared by a five-member ICC panel headed by Clive Lloyd, the ICC's cricket committee chairman, and including Anil Kumble, Mudassar Nazar, Bob Taylor and Stephen Fleming. This list was then sent to the ICC's independent panel of 25 members (including two South Africans) for selection of four players for each category. Nomination is based on the period between August 13, 2008 and August 24 2009, the ICC Awards 2009 take into account performances by players and officials in that period for the game. That period includes such high-profile events as the ICC World Twenty20 in England, the ICC Women's World Cup in Australia and the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in South Africa, as well as several bilateral Test and ODI series. While the shortlist was announced, the category winners will be known only on awards night. The votes have already been collated by Ernst and Young, who acted as independent auditors.  Highlights of ICC Awards: Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and opener Gautam Gambhir got twin nominations, while Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag were shortlisted for the ODI Player of the Year. Gambhir, Dhoni, Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Strauss have been short-listed for the Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for Cricketer of the Year. In addition, Gambhir, Johnson and Strauss were also short-listed for the Test Player of the Year alongside Sri Lanka's Thilan Samaraweera. Dhoni is also in contention to retain the ODI Player of the Year award he won last year as he is short-listed in that category with team-mates Yuvraj and Sehwag as well as West Indies' Shivnarine Chanderpaul. This year's awards include eight individual prizes and also feature the selection of the Test and ODI Teams of the Year and the award to the side that has adhered most to the Spirit of Cricket. The nominees for the Women's Cricketer of the Year are last year's winner England captain Charlotte Edwards along with team-mate Claire Taylor and Australia's Shelley Nitschke. The Emerging Player of the Year nominees short-list features two Australians, Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle, as well as Jesse Ryder of New Zealand and England's Graham Onions. The Umpire of the Year award was voted on by the captains and the match referees based on the umpires' performance statistics.  ICC Awards 2009 - short lists of nominees: 1. Cricketer of the Year: • Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind)  • Gautam Gambhir (Ind)  • Mitchell Johnson (Aus)  • Andrew Strauss (Eng)  2. Test Player of the Year: • Gautam Gambhir (Ind)  • Mitchell Johnson (Aus)  • Thilan Samaraweera (SL)  • Andrew Strauss (Eng) 3. ODI Player of the Year: • Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)  • Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind)  • Virender Sehwag (Ind)  • Yuvraj Singh (Ind)  4. Emerging Player: • Ben Hilfenhaus (Aus)  • Graham Onions (Eng)  • Jesse Ryder (NZ)  • Peter Siddle (Aus) 5. Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year: • Rizwan Cheema (Can)  • Ryan ten Doeschate (Ned)  • William Porterfield (Ire)  • Edgar Schiferli (Ned)  6. Twenty20 International Performance of the Year: • Shahid Afridi (Pak) for 51 runs and taking 2-16 against South Africa  • Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL) for scoring 96* against West Indies  • Chris Gayle (WI) for scoring 88 against Australia  • Umar Gul (Pak) for taking 5-6 against New Zealand7. Women's Cricketer of the Year: • Charlotte Edwards (Eng)• Shelley Nitschke (Aus)  • Claire Taylor (Eng) 8. Umpire of the Year: • Aleem Dar• Tony Hill  • Asad Rauf  • Simon Taufel 9. Spirit of Cricket: • Australia• England  • New Zealand  • Sri Lanka  Author: Mona Gupta, New Delhi.    … [Read more...]