International captains and players endorse ICC Awards

The world's leading players including the captains of Australia, England, South Africa and Sri Lanka, today endorsed the official launch of the ICC Awards - cricket's equivalent of the `Oscars'.

To be held for the first time this year at London's exclusive Alexandra Palace on 7 September, the ICC Awards seek to recognise and honour international cricket's best players of the past 12 months.

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.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting said the Awards held special meaning for the players by recognising and honouring the cricketers on an international stage.

"With so many ad hoc cricket awards around the globe, I think it's great that world cricket now has an awards ceremony with genuine meaning - where winners are decided by their peers and recognised in front of an international audience," Ponting said.

"I know how much the Australian players value the Allan Border Medal at the end of our home season, so to see a similar concept evolve on a world scale is terrific news.

"To have players from all nations in attendance will be something special. Let's hope it develops into a lasting tradition," he said.

South African captain Graeme Smith agreed that peer recognition is highly valued by players, and establishing a special voting academy of cricket luminaries to judge the award winners simply added to the event's prestige.

"The ICC Awards are an exciting addition to the cricket scene and will add a new dimension to the game at the highest level," said Smith.

"The depth of knowledge and first-hand experience of the game on the voting academy lends great significance to the awards.

"For a player there can be no greater accolade than to be judged by one's peers and those who are intimately involved in the game."

A voting panel of up to 50 cricket luminaries - including present captains, former prominent players and match officials - is being established to vote on the four individual awards.

Three team-related awards will also be presented on the night, including the selection of official ICC World XI teams in both Test and One-Day International cricket.

Selection for all seven awards is expected to create significant interest and debate over the coming months in the lead up to the gala ceremony on 7 September.

Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said that several players would be in contention for the awards after performing consistently over the year.

"There have been some great team and individual performances over the past 12 months, including from many of the Indian players.

"It will be very difficult to select the winners but because there is a respected judging panel you know the winners will be highly worthy and deserving.

"The Indian players are very much looking forward to being there in London and celebrating the year of cricket."

Charged with the task of voting as one of the 10 current captains on the voting academy, England skipper Michael Vaughan said he would carefully consider the past 12 months of international cricket when casting his votes.

"This is a good idea and I'm sure that it will become a fixture in the international cricket calendar," said Vaughan.

"I will certainly be giving plenty of thought as to how I cast my votes in the various categories and I think that the awards will really mean something to individual players because their efforts will have been acknowledged by their peers and colleagues."

Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu said creating the different award categories meant that all international players had the chance to be acknowledged and recognised for their performance at the highest level.

"This is a great incentive by the ICC to honour the players who have shone in international cricket during the year."

The ICC Awards have been established in conjunction with the Federation of International Cricketers' Association (FICA).

The individual awards are:

The team awards are:

A full list of the voting Academy will be announced in due course, along with further detail on the voting criteria, timelines and procedure.

For further information: