Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag running for top ICC honours

Dubai : Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag of India, Hashim Amla of South Africa and England?s Graeme Swann have all been short-listed for the top honour at the LG ICC Awards 2010.

The votes have now been cast by the independent 25-person academy and these four men are the ones in the running to receive the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for Cricketer of the Year at a glittering ceremony in Bengaluru on 6 October 2010.

In addition, Tendulkar, Sehwag and Amla are also short-listed for the Test Player of the Year alongside South Africa?s Dale Steyn at the seventh annual LG ICC Awards, presented in association with the Federation of International Cricketers? Associations (FICA).

Tendulkar is also in contention for the ODI Player of the Year award as he is short-listed in that category with Australia duo of Shane Watson and Ryan Harris as well as South Africa?s AB de Villiers.

The Twenty20 International Performance of the Year sees New Zealand?s Brendon McCullum short-listed alongside Australia?s Michael Hussey, Sri Lanka?s Mahela Jayawardena and South Africa?s Ryan McLaren.

This year?s LG ICC Awards includes nine individual prizes, including the new LG People?s Choice Award and also features the selection of the Test and ODI Teams of the Year and the award to the side that has adhered most to the Spirit of Cricket.

The long-lists of nominations were made by a five-man ICC selection panel chaired by former West Indies captain and current chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee Clive Lloyd. The panel also includes former players such as India?s Ravi Shastri, Matthew Hayden of Australia, Angus Fraser of England and Zimbabwe?s Duncan Fletcher.

The short-lists were created after the individual player awards were voted for by an academy of 25 highly credentialed cricket personalities from around the world*. The academy includes a host of former players, respected members of the media as well as representatives of the Emirates Elite Panels of ICC Umpires and ICC Match Referees.

The nominations from the Women?s Cricketer of the Year were decided after a committee of former players, current administrators and journalists created a long-list. This in turn was broken down into a short-list by a separate 25-person voting academy.

This year?s short-list for the Women?s Cricketer of the Year sees two of Australia?s victorious World Twenty20 team nominated for the top honour. Shelley Nitschke and Ellyse Perry are joined by West Indies Stafanie Taylor and England?s Katherine Brunt.

The Spirit of Cricket award was voted on by all international captains as well as all members of the Emirates Elite Panels of ICC Umpires and ICC Match Referees. The Umpire of the Year award was voted on by the captains and the match referees based on the umpires? performance statistics.

The Emerging Player of the Year nominees short-list features Englishman Steven Finn, as well as Angelo Mathews of Sri Lanka, Tim Paine of Australia and Pakistan?s Umar Akmal.

To qualify for that award a player must be under the age of 26 and have played fewer than five Tests and/or 10 ODIs at the start of the voting period.

The Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year award serves to recognise and reward the efforts in all international matches of the outstanding cricketers from the teams outside the ICC Full Members.

This year?s short-list sees the return of 2008 winner, Ryan ten Doeschate of the Netherlands, who is joined by Ireland pair of Trent Johnson and Kevin O?Brien while Afghanistan?s Mohammed Shahzad completes the list.

Based on the period between 24 August 2009 and 10 August 2010, the LG ICC Awards 2010 ? presented in association with FICA ? take into account performances by players and officials in a remarkable period for the game.

That period includes such high-profile events as the ICC Men?s and Women?s World Twenty20 2010 in West Indies, the ICC Champions Trophy 2009 in Australia and the ICC World Cricket League Division 1 2010 in the Netherlands, as well as several bilateral Test and ODI series.

The LG ICC Awards ceremony is now in its seventh year and this year is being held in Bengaluru. Previous ceremonies were held in London (2004), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006), Johannesburg (2007 and 2009) and Dubai (2008).