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| September 29, 2005 | Thursday | Sha'aban 24, 1426 |
Inzamam misses out on ODI nomination: ICC shortlists nominees
KARACHI, Sept 28: Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq, who had nearly refused to travel to Australia two days ago, found his name omitted from one of the ICC awards’ individual nominations on Wednesday.
Inzamam, due to represent World XI in the Oct 14-19 one-off Test of the Super Series against Australia, was initially nominated two weeks ago for all three major categories — Player of the Year, Test Player of the Year and the ODI Player of the Year.
But on Wednesday, the International Cricket Council’s awards selection panel cut short the four lists of nominees to five per category for this year’s awards ceremony in Sydney on Oct 11 with Inzamam missing out the nomination for ODI Player of the Year category.
However, Inzamam remains in contention for the other two top awards. But his Pakistan team-mates were left out of the final lists in their categories.
Vice-captain Younis Khan and leg-spinner Danish Kaneria dropped out of nominations for the Test Player of the Year award while Mohammad Yousuf (formerly Yousuf Youhana) and Shoaib Malik failed to make the final nominations for the ODI Player of the Year award.
In a surprise development, Indian batting star Rahul Dravid, last year’s ICC Player of the Year and Test Player of the Year, fell out of the reckoning when his name was struck off in the two nominated categories, ODI Player of the Year and Player of the Year.
Dravid’s compatriots Virender Sehwag, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh also lost out in the nominations for the Test Player of the Year award. The only Indian to feature in the final list is wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik who retains his place among the Emerging Player of the Year nominees.
Among other notable absentees from the final nominations — the selections of which were based on performances between Aug 1, 2004 and July 31 this year — are Australia’s Ashes-losing skipper Ricky Ponting (Player of the Year) and Graeme Smith, the South African captain who will be Ponting’s opposite number in the Sydney Test as World XI skipper.
However, there was some consolation for Australia as Adam Gilchrist had retained his nominations in all three major categories.
Bangladesh, Test cricket’s most eligible whipping boys, have a rare nominee in Aftab Ahmed who figures in the final nominations for the Emerging Player of the Year.
The five-man awards selection committee of Sunil Gavaskar (India), David Gower, Sir Richard Hadlee, Rodney Marsh and Courtney Walsh has also astonishingly retained Ian Bell, the England batsman who had a torrid time in the recent Ashes series, in the emerging player’s nominations.
Apart from the four individual awards’ categories, there will be presentations made for Test Team of the Year, One-day International of the Year and Spirit of Cricket award – the last category will be presented to one international team determined by the captains and match referees.
Aleem Dar, the solitary Pakistani representative on the ICC elite panel of umpires, stands a golden chance of being adjudged as the Umpire of the Year after a spell of impressive performances in a number of recent Test matches.
The shortlist of nominations for ICC awards:
Player of the Year: Andrew Flintoff (England), Adam Gilchrist (Australia), Glenn McGrath (Australia), Inzamamul Haq (Pakistan), Jacques Kallis (South Africa).
Test Player of the Year: Gilchrist, McGrath, Shane Warne (Australia), Inzamam, Kallis.
ODI Player of the Year: Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen (England), Gilchrist, Brett Lee (Australia), Andrew Symonds (Australia).
Emerging Player of the Year: Aftab Ahmed (Bangladesh), Ian Bell (England), Dinesh Karthik (India), Pietersen, A.B. de Villiers (South Africa).
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