UAE’s Saqib Ali among nominees for ICC award

UAE cricketer Saqib Ali is among 12 vieing for the Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year award at this year’s awards of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The 33-year-old dashing right-hand batsman who starred in UAE’s victory over Kenya in the Intercontinental Cup clash by smashing a belligerent 153 will be competing with Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien and Afghanistan Hamid Hassan among other for an award which serves to recognise and reward the efforts of the outstanding cricketers from the teams outside the ICC Full Members.

This year, Ireland boasts the most number of nominees with six names on the list followed by Afghanistan with three nominations, while Netherlands, Canada and UAE have one each.

Six players from four countries have each been nominated in three different categories for the LG ICC Awards 2011.

India’s Zaheer Khan, Jonathan Trott and Graeme Swann from England, AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla from South Africa and Shane Watson from Australia feature prominently in the long-lists for the awards, which will take place at a ceremony in London, England on September 12.

In addition, there are 11 players who are nominated in two distinct categories.

All appear among the long-lists of nominations for prizes at the eighth annual LG ICC Awards, presented in association with the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA).

This year’s LG ICC Awards includes 10 individual prizes and also features 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.

For the second time, this year’s awards feature the category, the LG People’s Choice Award. This award will be chosen by cricket fans around the world who will get a chance to vote for their favourite player online from a short-list of five cricketers.

Those five cricketers - Jonathan Trott, MS Dhoni, Chris Gayle, Kumar Sangakkara and Hashim Amla - who were selected by the ICC selection panel and released to the public for voting earlier this month, were chosen on the basis of some innovative parameters, in line with the values that embody the LG brand, such as innovation, dynamism, strength in decision-making, performing well under pressure and executing a plan to distinction, the ICC said in a statement.

Cricket fans currently have the opportunity to vote for the cricketer of their choice online until August 25 at www.lgpeopleschoice.com.

“The LG ICC Awards presents a wonderful opportunity for the ICC, in association with FICA and a myriad of cricket fans, to acknowledge and reward the brilliant performances of the world’s best cricketers,” said ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat.

“It is also a chance to look back on some of the great cricketing feats witnessed in the past year, including from our flagship event, the ICC Cricket World Cup. This will be the eighth Awards edition and once again the voting academy will face a tough task in deciding the winners,” he added.

The long-lists of nominations were made by a five-man ICC selection panel chaired by former West Indies captain and current chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee Clive Lloyd. The panel also includes former international players Mike Gatting of England, Danny Morrison of New Zealand, Paul Adams of South Africa and Pakistan’s Zaheer Abbas. 

The individual player awards will be selected by an academy of 25 cricket personalities from around the world. The academy includes a host of former players, members of the media, representatives of the Emirates Elite Panels of ICC Umpires and ICC Match Referees.

The nominations from the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year were decided after a committee of former players, current administrators and journalists created a long-list. The award will then be voted for by a separate 25-person voting academy.

South Africa’s Shandre Fritz features in the long list for the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year and is also the only female to feature in the long list for the ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year.

The other long list nominees for the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year include players from the men’s teams of South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Zimbabwe and England.

The Spirit of Cricket Award was voted on by all international captains as well as all members of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees. The Umpire of the Year Award was voted on by the captains and the match referees based on the umpires’ performance statistics.

There is also an Emerging Player of the Year award again this year. To qualify for that award a player must be under the age of 26 and have played fewer than five Tests and/or 10 ODIs and five T20Is at the start of the voting period.

Based on the period between August 11 2010 and August 3 2011, the LG ICC Awards 2011 – presented in association FICA – will take into account performances by players and officials in a remarkable period for the game.

That period includes such high-profile events as the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the ICC Intercontinental Cup final, several ICC World Cricket Leagues as well as several bilateral Test and ODI series.

The LG ICC Awards ceremony is now in its eighth year.

LG ICC Awards 2011
Long-lists of nominees (in alphabetical order; each category will be reduced to a short-list in due course)

Individual Awards

Cricketer of the Year (Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy)
Hashim Amla (South Africa), James Anderson (England), Ian Bell (England), Stuart Broad (England), Alastair Cook (England), Rahul Dravid (India), Jacques Kallis (South Africa), Zaheer Khan (India), Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), Andrew Strauss (England), Graeme Swann (England), Sachin Tendulkar (India), Chris Tremlett (England), Jonathan Trott (England), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Shane Watson (Australia)

Test Player of the Year
Hashim Amla (South Africa), James Anderson (England), Ian Bell (England), Stuart Broad (England), Alastair Cook (England), Rahul Dravid (India), Jacques Kallis (South Africa), Zaheer Khan (India), Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan), Kevin Pietersen (England), Ishant Sharma (India), Harbhajan Singh (India), Dale Steyn (South Africa), Graeme Swann (England), Sachin Tendulkar (India), Chris Tremlett (England), Jonathan Trott (England), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Shane Watson (Australia).

ODI Player of the Year
Hashim Amla (South Africa), Michael Clarke (Australia), MS Dhoni (India), Gautam Gambhir (India), Mohammed Hafeez (Pakistan), Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka), Zaheer Khan (India), Virat Kohli (India), Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka), Munaf Patel (India), Saeed Ajmal (Pakistan), Shakib Al Hasan (Bang), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), Virender Sehwag (India), Yuvraj Singh (India), Tim Southee (New Zealand), Dale Steyn (South Africa), Graeme Swann (England), Jonathan Trott (England), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Shane Watson (Australia)

Women’s Cricketer of the Year
Cri-zelda Britz (South Africa), Jess Cameron (Australia), Sarah Coyte (Australia), Charlotte Edwards (England), Shandre Fritz (South Africa), Jhulan Goswami (India), Lydia Greenway (England), Bismah Maroof (Pakistan), Laura Marsh (England), Sara McGlashan (New Zealand), Anisa Mohammed (West Indies), Shelley Nitschke (Australia), Leah Poulton (Australia), Poonam Raut (India), Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)

Emerging Player of the Year
Adnan Akmal (Pakistan), Azhar Ali (Pakistan), Hamish Bennett (New Zealand), Devendra Bishoo (West Indies), Darren Bravo (West Indies), Kirk Edwards (West Indies), Colin Ingram (South Africa), Abhinav Mukund (India), Wahab Riaz (Pakistan), Kane Williamson (New Zealand)

Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year
Saqib Ali (UAE), Ashish Bagai (Canada), George Dockrell (Ireland), Ryan ten Doeschate (Netherlands), Hamid Hassan (Afghanistan), Nawroz Mangal (Afghanistan), John Mooney (Ireland), Kevin O’Brien (Ireland), Mohammad Shahzad (Afghanistan), Paul Stirling (Ireland), Andrew White (Ireland), Gary Wilson (Ireland).

Twenty20 International Performance of the Year
CJ Chibhabha (Zimbabwe) – 52 runs (32b, 6x4, 2x6v South Africa, Bloemfontein, 8 October 2010
GC Smith (South Africa) – 58 runs, (29b, 9x4, 2x6) v Zimbabwe, Bloemfontein, 8 October 2010
JP Duminy (South Africa) – 96 not out, (54b, 10x4, 4x6) v Zimbabwe, Kimberley, 10 October 2010
SR Watson (Australia) – 59 runs (31b, 6x4, 3x6), v England, Adelaide, 12 January 2011
TT Bresnan (England) – 3-10-3-4, v Pakistan, Cardiff, 7 September 2010
TG Southee (New Zealand) – 4-1-18-5, v Pakistan, Auckland, 26 December 2010
SA Fritz (South Africa Women) – 116 not out (71b, 12x4, 2x6), v Netherlands Women, Potchefstroom, 14 October 2010
 
Umpire of the Year (David Shepherd Trophy)
Billy Bowden, Aleem Dar, Steve Davis, Kumar Dharmasena, Billy Doctrove, Marais Erasmus, Ian Gould, Tony Hill, Richard Kettleborough, Asad Rauf, Simon Taufel, Rod Tucker.

LG People’s Choice Award
MS Dhoni (India), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), Chris Gayle (WI), Jonathan Trott (England), Hashim Amla (South Africa) 

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