LONDON, CMC:
WEST INDIES cricket legend Sir Garfield Sobers has had another honour bestowed upon him.
World cricket's governing body announced yesterday that the most prestigious individual award in world cricket of the ICC Player-of-the-Year would be named in honour of Sir Garfield.
Sir Garfield Sobers played 93 Tests for West Indies, scoring 8032 runs and claiming 235 wickets in Test cricket.
The recommendation to name the award after Sir Garfield came from a group of three cricket legends - former Australia captain Richie Benaud, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, and former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding - who were all asked by the ICC to select an individual with whom to honour cricket's ultimate individual award.
The inaugural winner of the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy will be presented to the 2004 Player-of-the-Year tomorrow in a lavish ceremony at Alexandra Palace.
"It is a great honour to have this award named after me," Sir Garfield said in an ICC news release.
"I have been fortunate to enjoy a long association with a game that I and millions of others around the world cherish, and I appreciate this honour which has been initiated on my behalf, and I wish all those players who have been nominated as Player-of-the-Year the very best of luck."
Leading international crystal manufacturer, Swarovski hand-crafted The Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy, whose design features a red crystal cricket ball studded with over 4,200 Swarovski crystal chantons, resting on a brass hand extended from a gold-plated base.
ICC President Ehsan Mani believes that naming the Player-of-the-Year award after Sir Garfield would add strong meaning for the individual voted as the game's most outstanding player of the past 12 months.
