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Outrage in South Africa over ICC awards
The ICC's prestigious annual awards appears to have run into a controversy with several high-profile figures from South Africa, including Gerald Majola, the national cricket board's chief executive, criticising the final selection process for not including a single South African player. Majola questioned the credibility of the awards - which will be presented in Johannesburg on October 1 - and said it appeared to him that the only way to get on the shortlist was to play the Ashes.
Majola's views have been echoed by Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, who said the "very disappointing" nominations shortlist would motivate his players to perform better in the ICC Champions Trophy starting on September 22. Journalist Neil Manthorp, a member of the awards voting panel, wrote that the honour of being on that jury had turned into an embarrassment.
When contacted, an ICC spokesperson said that the awards nomination "is a completely independent process in which the ICC has no say whatsoever".
"To me, it looks like the only way to get on these nomination lists is to play the Ashes," Majola told. "Unfortunately, our players don't play for England or Australia. That seems to be the criteria to select these awards. I don't know what the criteria are for these nominations but I simply can't believe that this has happened to South African players. My personal opinion is that this doesn't lend credibility to this year's awards, for sure. To rub salt to our wounds, the awards ceremony is being held in our country.
"The last season was one of the best ever for South Africa and there were a lot of outstanding performances by our players. In my personal opinion, there were at least three South African players who should have figured on the shortlist. But I am not going to name them because I don't want to drag our players into this issue when they are preparing for the Champions Trophy. I haven't spoken to them about this either."
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. The performance period taken into account was August 13, 2008 to August 24, 2009. This list was then sent to the ICC's independent panel of 25 members - including two South Africans, Allan Donald and Manthorp - to vote for the shortlist of the top four contenders in each category.
The independent panel included former players Ian Healy, Ramiz Raja, Athar Ali Khan, Allan Donald, Bob Willis, Sidath Wettimuny, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Ian Bishop, Jeremy Coney, Dave Houghton, Roland Lefebvre. The media was represented by Jim Maxwell (Aus), Osman Samiuddin (Cricinfo's Pakistan editor), Sayeed Uzzaman (Ban), Neil Manthorp (SA), Scyld Berry (Eng), Ramil Abeynaike (SL), Sharda Ugra (Ind), Fazeer Mohammed (WI), Richard Boock (NZ), Enock Nuchinjo (Zim) and Jon Coates (Associates). The officials were ICC referees elite panel representative: Alan Hurst; ICC umpires elite panel representative: Billy Bowden and chairman of the ICC cricket committee: Clive Lloyd.
While the shortlist was announced on Tuesday, 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.
South Africa are currently the No. 1 Test and ODI team on the ICC rankings and the long list, reflecting this, featured four South African players. Graeme Smith, who led his team to their first Test series win ever in Australia, and AB deVilliers, who hit two match-winning centuries against Australia - one of them set up that historic away series win - were nominated for Cricketer of the Year and Test Player of the Year; Dale Steyn, who was ICC's Test Player of the Year in 2008, also featured on the long list for the best Test player; and Wayne Parnell, the left-arm fast bowler, was nominated for the best Twenty20 International Performance of the year.
None of them made it to the final four in their categories.
Writing in SuperSport.com, Manthorp said the fault lay not with the ICC but with the system used for determining the award winners. The 25-member panel has to select the final nominees from a dozen or more names on the long list, which, he said, was simply too time-consuming to be done thoroughly. There were "plenty of Proteas" on the long list, he said, but not having played for three months meant they were "out of sight and out of mind."
Andrew Strauss, the England captain, and Mitchell Johnson, the Australian fast bowler, figure in both the shortlists (of four players each) for Cricketer of the Year and Test Player of the Year. MS Dhoni, the India captain and Gautam Gambhir, the India opener, are the other shortlisted nominees for Cricketer of the Year; Gambhir and Thilan Samaraweera, the Sri Lankan batsman, are also in the race for the best Test player.
However, South African players can still be part of the awards night by featuring in the best Test and ODI teams for the last year that will be announced at the ceremony. Smith, for instance, was named captain of the best Test selection last time in a team that also featured Jacques Kallis and Steyn. Herchelle Gibbs was part of the best ODI selection last year.
The ICC's prestigious annual awards appears to have run into a controversy with several high-profile figures from South Africa, including Gerald Majola, the national cricket board's chief executive, criticising the final selection process for not including a single South African player. Majola questioned the credibility of the awards - which will be presented in Johannesburg on October 1 - and said it appeared to him that the only way to get on the shortlist was to play the Ashes.
Majola's views have been echoed by Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, who said the "very disappointing" nominations shortlist would motivate his players to perform better in the ICC Champions Trophy starting on September 22. Journalist Neil Manthorp, a member of the awards voting panel, wrote that the honour of being on that jury had turned into an embarrassment.
When contacted, an ICC spokesperson said that the awards nomination "is a completely independent process in which the ICC has no say whatsoever".
"To me, it looks like the only way to get on these nomination lists is to play the Ashes," Majola told. "Unfortunately, our players don't play for England or Australia. That seems to be the criteria to select these awards. I don't know what the criteria are for these nominations but I simply can't believe that this has happened to South African players. My personal opinion is that this doesn't lend credibility to this year's awards, for sure. To rub salt to our wounds, the awards ceremony is being held in our country.
"The last season was one of the best ever for South Africa and there were a lot of outstanding performances by our players. In my personal opinion, there were at least three South African players who should have figured on the shortlist. But I am not going to name them because I don't want to drag our players into this issue when they are preparing for the Champions Trophy. I haven't spoken to them about this either."
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. The performance period taken into account was August 13, 2008 to August 24, 2009. This list was then sent to the ICC's independent panel of 25 members - including two South Africans, Allan Donald and Manthorp - to vote for the shortlist of the top four contenders in each category.
The independent panel included former players Ian Healy, Ramiz Raja, Athar Ali Khan, Allan Donald, Bob Willis, Sidath Wettimuny, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Ian Bishop, Jeremy Coney, Dave Houghton, Roland Lefebvre. The media was represented by Jim Maxwell (Aus), Osman Samiuddin (Cricinfo's Pakistan editor), Sayeed Uzzaman (Ban), Neil Manthorp (SA), Scyld Berry (Eng), Ramil Abeynaike (SL), Sharda Ugra (Ind), Fazeer Mohammed (WI), Richard Boock (NZ), Enock Nuchinjo (Zim) and Jon Coates (Associates). The officials were ICC referees elite panel representative: Alan Hurst; ICC umpires elite panel representative: Billy Bowden and chairman of the ICC cricket committee: Clive Lloyd.
While the shortlist was announced on Tuesday, 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.
South Africa are currently the No. 1 Test and ODI team on the ICC rankings and the long list, reflecting this, featured four South African players. Graeme Smith, who led his team to their first Test series win ever in Australia, and AB deVilliers, who hit two match-winning centuries against Australia - one of them set up that historic away series win - were nominated for Cricketer of the Year and Test Player of the Year; Dale Steyn, who was ICC's Test Player of the Year in 2008, also featured on the long list for the best Test player; and Wayne Parnell, the left-arm fast bowler, was nominated for the best Twenty20 International Performance of the year.
None of them made it to the final four in their categories.
Writing in SuperSport.com, Manthorp said the fault lay not with the ICC but with the system used for determining the award winners. The 25-member panel has to select the final nominees from a dozen or more names on the long list, which, he said, was simply too time-consuming to be done thoroughly. There were "plenty of Proteas" on the long list, he said, but not having played for three months meant they were "out of sight and out of mind."
Andrew Strauss, the England captain, and Mitchell Johnson, the Australian fast bowler, figure in both the shortlists (of four players each) for Cricketer of the Year and Test Player of the Year. MS Dhoni, the India captain and Gautam Gambhir, the India opener, are the other shortlisted nominees for Cricketer of the Year; Gambhir and Thilan Samaraweera, the Sri Lankan batsman, are also in the race for the best Test player.
However, South African players can still be part of the awards night by featuring in the best Test and ODI teams for the last year that will be announced at the ceremony. Smith, for instance, was named captain of the best Test selection last time in a team that also featured Jacques Kallis and Steyn. Herchelle Gibbs was part of the best ODI selection last year.
Sangakkara okay with not being favourites
Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka captain, is comfortable with not being counted among the favourites for the Champions Trophy and said it would reduce pressure on them.
"It works in our favour not to be mentioned as favourites because we will be able to operate under the radar and there will not be too much attention given to us," Sangakkara said. "Playing on such a great stage will automatically mean teams will be out to show and highlight what they can do, and it will be all about the handling of pressure."
The favourites include the world's top two ODI sides, South Africa and India, along with defending champions Australia.
However, Sangakkara said form would not be an issue when the teams took to the field. "Everyone in our team is confident, but our recent wins are not going to count for anything," he said. "Everyone here is a professional unit and whether they have played recently or not won't matter because you are always in training and up to the challenge of playing. It is nice to have had a bit of cricket, but the only advantage of that is that we have been competing under pressure."
Sri Lanka, who finished runners-up at the World Twenty20 in June this year, are currently ranked third in ODIs, and with the good mix of fast bowlers and spinners in the squad, Sangakkara was optimistic about their chances in the tournament. "Fast bowling is now one of our main strengths," he said. "We now have bowlers who can bowl at more than 140 km/h and they have the accuracy and firepower. Coupled with our spinners, Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan, it's an exciting time for Sri Lankan cricket."
Sri Lanka will face hosts South Africa, England and New Zealand in Group B of the tournament. Their first match, also the tournament opener, will be against South Africa in Centurion on September 22.
Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka captain, is comfortable with not being counted among the favourites for the Champions Trophy and said it would reduce pressure on them.
"It works in our favour not to be mentioned as favourites because we will be able to operate under the radar and there will not be too much attention given to us," Sangakkara said. "Playing on such a great stage will automatically mean teams will be out to show and highlight what they can do, and it will be all about the handling of pressure."
The favourites include the world's top two ODI sides, South Africa and India, along with defending champions Australia.
However, Sangakkara said form would not be an issue when the teams took to the field. "Everyone in our team is confident, but our recent wins are not going to count for anything," he said. "Everyone here is a professional unit and whether they have played recently or not won't matter because you are always in training and up to the challenge of playing. It is nice to have had a bit of cricket, but the only advantage of that is that we have been competing under pressure."
Sri Lanka, who finished runners-up at the World Twenty20 in June this year, are currently ranked third in ODIs, and with the good mix of fast bowlers and spinners in the squad, Sangakkara was optimistic about their chances in the tournament. "Fast bowling is now one of our main strengths," he said. "We now have bowlers who can bowl at more than 140 km/h and they have the accuracy and firepower. Coupled with our spinners, Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan, it's an exciting time for Sri Lankan cricket."
Sri Lanka will face hosts South Africa, England and New Zealand in Group B of the tournament. Their first match, also the tournament opener, will be against South Africa in Centurion on September 22.
South Africa desperate to shed 'chokers' tag
South Africa haven't won an ICC trophy since the Champions Trophy in 1998 despite being among the top one-day sides over the past decade. Their captain Graeme Smith is desperate to shed the 'chokers' tag that hangs around the team and sees next week's Champions Trophy as a chance for the world's No. 1 ODI side to answer the doubters.
"Every time we lose an important game the word 'chokers' is thrown around," Smith said. "During the last couple of years we have been on an upward curve and the team will improve and grow stronger."
South Africa have won all their ODI series over the past two years barring the campaign in England in 2008. Their run has included impressive home-and-away wins over Australia, who were deposed from the top spot in the rankings.
Smith said he was aware being rated the best side in the world added to the pressure on South Africa. "Every sportsman knows that staying at the top is a lot harder than getting there," he said. "Instead of aiming for Australia, as they have for the past decade and a half, the rest of the world will be looking to take us down."
One of the players pivotal to South Africa's dominant one-day performances is batsman AB de Villiers, who said the Champions Trophy was a great stage to showcase his team's capabilities. "It is true we have come short a few times, but there are many players eager to improve," he said. "We believe we are the best team in the world and now have the ideal opportunity to prove it."
A lack of one-dayers over the past five months is a cause for concern for South Africa but de Villiers wasn't too bothered about the potential rustiness. "Our preparations have been the hardest since I began training with this squad," he said. "We run up to four times every day, attend net sessions, sweat in the gym and work on fitness in the pool.
"Although we have not played much cricket recently, training games helped, and I believe we are professional enough to gear ourselves mentally for this tournament."
South Africa are grouped with Sri Lanka, New Zealand and England in the group phase of the tournament which starts on September 22.
South Africa haven't won an ICC trophy since the Champions Trophy in 1998 despite being among the top one-day sides over the past decade. Their captain Graeme Smith is desperate to shed the 'chokers' tag that hangs around the team and sees next week's Champions Trophy as a chance for the world's No. 1 ODI side to answer the doubters.
"Every time we lose an important game the word 'chokers' is thrown around," Smith said. "During the last couple of years we have been on an upward curve and the team will improve and grow stronger."
South Africa have won all their ODI series over the past two years barring the campaign in England in 2008. Their run has included impressive home-and-away wins over Australia, who were deposed from the top spot in the rankings.
Smith said he was aware being rated the best side in the world added to the pressure on South Africa. "Every sportsman knows that staying at the top is a lot harder than getting there," he said. "Instead of aiming for Australia, as they have for the past decade and a half, the rest of the world will be looking to take us down."
One of the players pivotal to South Africa's dominant one-day performances is batsman AB de Villiers, who said the Champions Trophy was a great stage to showcase his team's capabilities. "It is true we have come short a few times, but there are many players eager to improve," he said. "We believe we are the best team in the world and now have the ideal opportunity to prove it."
A lack of one-dayers over the past five months is a cause for concern for South Africa but de Villiers wasn't too bothered about the potential rustiness. "Our preparations have been the hardest since I began training with this squad," he said. "We run up to four times every day, attend net sessions, sweat in the gym and work on fitness in the pool.
"Although we have not played much cricket recently, training games helped, and I believe we are professional enough to gear ourselves mentally for this tournament."
South Africa are grouped with Sri Lanka, New Zealand and England in the group phase of the tournament which starts on September 22.
Younis wants to win Champions Trophy for Woolmer
Pakistan captain Younis Khan has said he wants to win the Champions Trophy in honour of Bob Woolmer, the team's former coach who died during the 2007 World Cup. "I'll go to Bob's home [in South Africa] and celebrate the Champions Trophy win with his family," Younis told reporters ahead of the team's departure for the tournament in South Africa.
Woolmer was present during the last edition in 2006, in India, when Pakistan were plagued by off-the-field problems. Younis, standing in for the banned Inzamam-ul-Haq, had resigned in protest at being made a "dummy captain". Middle-order batsman Mohammad Yousuf was appointed in his place, before Younis was handed back responsibilities a day later after a change in the PCB setup.
The problems continued into the day before their opening match against Sri Lanka, when Pakistan had to withdraw fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif after both failed dope tests conducted before the team's departure for India.
"Those were testing times and Bob was very disappointed, when after winning the first match, we lost the next two, because he wanted to win the Champions Trophy," Younis said. A year later, Pakistan unceremoniously exited the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies after losing to unheralded Ireland in the first round.
The next day, Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room in Jamaica, and after being initially treated as murder by the Jamaican police, the death was declared to be due to natural causes.
"Bob is the missing part of our cricket and we feel his absence," Younis said. "I have been in regular touch with his wife and when we won the World Twenty20 in England in June we dedicated the trophy to Bob. This time too we will dedicate the trophy to him, because he lived in South Africa."
Pakistan, who have never won the Champions Trophy, are placed in Group A along side defending champions Australia, India and the West Indies. They start their campaign against West Indies on September 23.
Pakistan captain Younis Khan has said he wants to win the Champions Trophy in honour of Bob Woolmer, the team's former coach who died during the 2007 World Cup. "I'll go to Bob's home [in South Africa] and celebrate the Champions Trophy win with his family," Younis told reporters ahead of the team's departure for the tournament in South Africa.
Woolmer was present during the last edition in 2006, in India, when Pakistan were plagued by off-the-field problems. Younis, standing in for the banned Inzamam-ul-Haq, had resigned in protest at being made a "dummy captain". Middle-order batsman Mohammad Yousuf was appointed in his place, before Younis was handed back responsibilities a day later after a change in the PCB setup.
The problems continued into the day before their opening match against Sri Lanka, when Pakistan had to withdraw fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif after both failed dope tests conducted before the team's departure for India.
"Those were testing times and Bob was very disappointed, when after winning the first match, we lost the next two, because he wanted to win the Champions Trophy," Younis said. A year later, Pakistan unceremoniously exited the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies after losing to unheralded Ireland in the first round.
The next day, Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room in Jamaica, and after being initially treated as murder by the Jamaican police, the death was declared to be due to natural causes.
"Bob is the missing part of our cricket and we feel his absence," Younis said. "I have been in regular touch with his wife and when we won the World Twenty20 in England in June we dedicated the trophy to Bob. This time too we will dedicate the trophy to him, because he lived in South Africa."
Pakistan, who have never won the Champions Trophy, are placed in Group A along side defending champions Australia, India and the West Indies. They start their campaign against West Indies on September 23.
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