Daryl Mitchell awarded with ‘ICC Spirit of Cricket’ accolade
New Zealand's Daryl Mitchell has been named the recipient of the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award after his gesture in the 2021 ICC Men's T20I World Cup semi-final against England in Abu Dhabi.
As a result, Mitchell has become the fourth New Zealand player to win the award, following the footsteps of Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson. Mitchell wins the award for refusing to take a single in the high-pressure T20I World Cup semi-final against England in Abu Dhabi on 10 November, 2021.
"It's an honour to receive the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award," Mitchell said in an official release. "To be part of that T20I 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," he added.
In the first semi-final of the ICC Men's T20I World Cup 2021 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, England and New Zealand were locked in a tight battle to reach the summit clash. Batting first, England had posted a competitive 166/4 on the board courtesy of Moeen Ali's half-century.
New Zealand were on course for the run chase with a well-settled Mitchell establishing a partnership with James Neesham, who was in blistering form. 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 - in a high-pressure chase, with a place in the World Cup final at stake, Mitchell's gesture oozed class.
Eventually, New Zealand ended up winning the contest, chasing the total down with an over to spare. Mitchell who opened the batting proved to be the match-winner, playing a memorable knock of 72* in only 47 deliveries, hitting the winning runs.
New Zealand would end up as the runners-up in the tournament, falling short at the final hurdle against Australia who won the match by eight wickets.