ICC Cricket Awards 2018: Kane Williamson bags Spirit of Cricket Award

What's the story?

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson clinched the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award 2018. The Tauranga-born player had an exemplary year and was honoured with the award for his behaviour both on and off the field.

In case you didn’t know…

The Spirit of Cricket award was earlier given to a team (from 2004 to 2010) and not an individual. A team was adjudged based on 'upholding the spirit of the game.' This involves having respect for your opponents, your own teammates, the match officials, and having the traditional values.

The prestigious honour has been given to individuals since 2011. The following are the previous winners of the award:

- New Zealand (2004)

- England (2005)

- England (2006)

- Sri Lanka (2007)

- Sri Lanka (2008)

- New Zealand (2009)

- New Zealand (2010)

- MS Dhoni (2011)

- Daniel Vettori (2012)

- Mahela Jayawardene (2013)

- Katherine Brunt (2014)

- Brendon McCullum (2015)

- Misbah-ul-Haq (2016)

- Anya Shrubsole (2017)

The humble Kane Williamson has won the award for 2018 and one can clearly notice the dominance of New Zealand (or Kiwi players) for this particular award.

The heart of the matter

Williamson amassed 651 runs in seven Test matches he played in 2018 at a brilliant average of 59.18. The 28-year old also amassed 468 runs in 11 ODI matches averaging 46.80. The classy batsman still keeps himself grounded at all times and his behaviour is just exceptional. He ensures the positive energy keeps flowing within the team.

The ICC Spirit of Cricket Award 2018 goes to Kane Williamson, for continuing to be a shining role model of how our game should be played, his behaviour setting an outstanding example on and off the field 🙌➡️ https://t.co/DjxiXotQSq#SpiritofCricket #ICCAwards 🏆 pic.twitter.com/sB5VpweYhI

— ICC (@ICC) January 22, 2019

Upon receiving the Spirit of Cricket award, Williamson said:

“We are all ambassadors of this game, so playing in the right spirit, those sorts of characteristics are really important even at the highest level. It is a nice award. It is important for us as a group that we keep looking to do better in all areas, and one of those areas is to continue playing the game in the right way, as how we see it being right.”

What's Next

Williamson is currently ranked second in Tests, 11 in ODIs, and 13th in T20 internationals as per the ICC Batting rankings. He is indeed a remarkable talent and a true gentleman of the game. The right-handed batsman still has a long way to go. He will soon be seen in action against India as the ODI series begins on January 23, 2019.