Vettori thrilled with Black Caps winning ICC ‘Spirit of Cricket’ award

WELLINGTON - New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori is thrilled with his side winning the ICC ‘Spirit of Cricket’ award, saying that he is proud to lead a team that has most adhered to the spirit of cricket.

“It’s great to win the ICC Spirit of Cricket award for the third time and I am proud to lead a team that has been deemed once again to be the side that has most adhered to the spirit of cricket,” The New Zealand Herald quoted Vettori, as saying.

“The team I have led over the past year has without a doubt shown great sportsmanship and played the game of cricket in the right way by always respecting our opponents and those who officiate and look after us in the sport,” he added.

Despite being beaten by Bangladesh in the first ODI played recently, and currently languishing in the eighth place in the ICC test rankings, New Zealand beat India, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe to win the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ award for the second year in a row at the ICC Awards.

“The Black Caps richly deserved the Spirit of Cricket Award and to receive the accolade three times shows how highly our cricketers respect the game’s traditional values. The Black Caps are excellent role models and great ambassadors for the game,” said New Zealand Cricket CEO Justin Vaughan.

The award is handed out to the team with the best on-field conduct, and is decided by the ICC elite panel of umpires and match referees, and the captains of the ten full members of the world’s governing body.

The Black Caps’ season was not without incident last summer with Scott Styris fined 15 percent of his match fee following a minor ‘headbutt’ with Australia’s Mitchell Johnson in a one-day international in Napier, the paper reports.

The spirit award wasn’t the only accolade for New Zealand on the occasion of the seventh ICC awards held in Bangalore on Wednesday evening night, which was headlined by India’s Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, who was declared the ICC player of the year. (ANI)