New Zealand opener Daryl Mitchell has won the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award for the 2021 season for his gesture against England in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021 semi-final. He became the 4th Kiwi to win the award, following the footsteps of Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, and Kane Williamson.
He was awarded this prestigious award for refusing to take a single in the high-pressure T20 World Cup semi-final against England in Abu Dhabi on November 10, 2021.
England pulling out of their tour to Pakistan last year made 'zero' sense- Alex Hales
"It’s an honour to receive the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award. To be part of that T20 World Cup in UAE was an amazing experience, and to receive an award like this is pretty cool. It’s something that we pride ourselves on as New Zealanders, the way we go about playing our cricket, and yes, the Spirit of Cricket side. Personally, I felt I got in the way and we wanted to win on our own terms, and didn’t want to be controversial in such a big game,” Mitchell said after winning the award.
In the first semi-final of the 2021 ICC Men's 2021 T20 World Cup at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, England had posted a competitive 166/4 batting first thanks to a fifty by Moeen Ali. In reply, New Zealand was on course with Daryl Mitchell settling in nicely and forming a partnership with James Neesham.
The incident occurred on the first ball of the 18th over bowled by Adil Rashid, with the score at 133/4. Neesham bashed the ball down the ground and it would have been an easy single. But Mitchell, at the non-striker's end, refused to take the run, conceding that he had impeded Rashid.
Mitchell, explaining why he refused to take the single, added: "It was a pretty tight game against England in that semi-final, with only a few overs to go. Neesh (Jimmy Neesham) hit a single down to long-off I think it was, and I felt like I’d obstructed Rashid from getting to the ball.
The game that we play, we play it because we love it. Yes, we want to win as much as we can, but we don’t want that to come about from doing things that go against the values of cricket. Spirit of Cricket is vitally important. It sets a platform for kids in the future, who will go about playing the game in the right way. At the end of the day, it is a game, it’s something that we love. So obviously we’re so lucky to do that.”
New Zealand won the match with Mitchell making 72* in 47 balls.
(ICC inputs)
