Cape Town – Hashim Amla and Vernon Philander have been nominated for two high profile awards in the annual ICC Awards’ long list of nominees announced on Monday.
The pair will compete for the ICC Cricketer of the Year as well as the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year, after 12 months of continued excellence on the field.
The Proteas make up a quintet for the Test Cricket of the Year award, with Dale Steyn, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers also on the list.
The strong Proteas’ presence in the longest format of the game comes after a successful year which has currently placed them on the verge of Test supremacy. Although the list will be shortened in due course, their mentions give a strong indication of the calibre of excellence present in the current Test unit.
De Villiers and Kallis’s esteemed sportsmanship also sees them nominated for the Spirit of Cricket Award along with Pakistan’s Mohammed Hafeez, West Indies’ Kieron Pollard and New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori.
This year’s five nominees for the Spirit of Cricket Award are nominated due to: “An action, moment, gesture or decision on the field of play of International cricket during the specified voting period which best reflects the Spirit of Cricket�.
Richard Levi’s phenomenal entry on to the International T20 platform has earned him a place on the ICC T20 Performance of the Year list. Levi’s blistering world-record knock of 117 not out against New Zealand included 13 sixes – the most in a T20 innings.
The individual player awards will be selected by an academy of 32 highly respected 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 selection criteria are based on performances during the period of 4 August 2011 to 6 August 2012.
ICC Awards 2012:
South African nominees
Long-lists of nominees (in alphabetical order; each category will be reduced to a shortlist in due course)
Individual Awards
ICC Cricketer of the Year (Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy) – Male or Female:
Hashim Amla (SA)
Vernon Philander (SA)
ICC Test Cricketer of the Year:
Hashim Amla (SA)
Jacques Kallis (SA)
Vernon Philander (SA)
Dale Steyn (SA)
AB de Villiers (SA)
ICC men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year:
Morné Morkel (SA)
ICC Men’s Twenty20 International Performance of the Year:
Richard Levi (SA) – 117no (51b, 5×4. 13×6) v New Zealand, Auckland, 22 February 2012
ICC Spirit of Cricket Award:
Jacques Kallis (SA)
AB de Villiers (SA)
ICC Umpire of the Year (David Shepherd Trophy):
People’s Choice Award:
Jacques Kallis (SA)
Vernon Philander (SA)
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