Sri Lanka pockets ‘Spirit of Cricket’ award
Chris Dhambarage
CRICKET: Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena with the
Spirit of Cricket Award. AFP
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Award:Australia’s Ricky Ponting was named ICC Cricketer of
the Year for the second year running at the ICC Awards in
Johannesburg September 10. Ponting was the winner after the
ballots from the 56-member ICC Awards Voting Academy were
tallied, thus adding the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy to the
award for Captain of the Year, won earlier in the evening.
AFP |
CRICKET: Australia’s Matthew Hayden poses with a the award for
ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year. Pix- AFP
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CRICKET:Australian Umpire Simon Taufel who won the Umpire of the
Year ICC Award. |
CRICKET: Sri Lanka received a tremendous boost just a couple of days
ahead of their Twenty20 World Cup opener against Kenya when they were
honoured with the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award at the fourth annual
awards ceremony held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg
yesterday.
The Spirit of Cricket Award was presented to the team which, in the
opinion of the Emirates Elite Panel of Umpires and Referees and the
captains of the 10 Test teams, has best conducted itself on the field
within the spirit of the game.
The award was presented to Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena by
former South Africa batsman Jonty Rhodes at the ceremony. This is the
first time that Sri Lanka has won this award.
Earlier England won this title in 2005 and 2006 while New Zealand
bagged the honour at the inaugural ICC Awards in 2004. Sri Lanka was one
of several teams that demonstrated the Spirit of Cricket to great effect
over the past 12 months as they edged out Ireland and New Zealand to win
this prestigious award.
After receiving the award on behalf of his team Sri Lanka captain
Mahela Jayawardena said that it is important to remember the Spirit of
Cricket associated in the game.
“We try to enjoy what we do, playing against other countries. That
was shown in the World Cup with Ireland who really enjoyed themselves
there and it was great to play against that team too.
“We are there to win a match but we are also entertainers as well.
The most important thing we can do is enjoy the game. We are very lucky
to do what we do and it is vital that we remember that”.
“We play a different brand of cricket and we all enjoy playing. There
is so much pride to wear the cap for our country. Spirit of Cricket can
be explained in many different ways.”
This Spirit is described in the preamble to the Laws of Cricket.
“Cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that
it should be played not only within its Laws but also within the Spirit
of the Game.
Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes injury to the
game itself,” added Jayawardena.
In fact the preamble goes on to say: “The Spirit of the Game involves
respect for your opponents, your own captain and team, the role of the
umpires and the game’s traditional values.
The Spirit of Cricket Award was one of 11 individual and team honours
handed out during the ICC Awards in association with FICA (the
Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations).
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