ILT20 Season 5 to introduce MCC Spirit of Cricket Award

The International League T20 has partnered with the Marylebone Cricket Club to introduce a Spirit of Cricket Award in the tournament’s fifth season, scheduled for the United Arab Emirates from November 21 to December 20. The award will be presented at the culmination of the tournament to one of the six teams, or an individual, seen to embody the Spirit of Cricket.

Context

MCC first presented the award last year and has since worked with ICC Europe at three men’s sub-regional World Cup qualification events earlier this year.

The ILT20 is a six-team T20 league featuring 34 matches at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the Dubai International Stadium, and the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Desert Vipers are the defending champions.

Previous winners include Gulf Giants in Season 1, MI Emirates in Season 2, and Dubai Capitals in Season 3. Abu Dhabi Knight Riders and Sharjah Warriorz are the other participating teams.

The tournament roster includes Babar Azam, Liam Livingstone, David Miller, Rashid Khan, Heinrich Klaasen, Faf du Plessis, Nicholas Pooran, Phil Salt, Alex Hales, Tim Seifert, Fakhar Zaman, Usman Tariq, and Sunil Narine.

What happens next

ILT20 Season 5 begins on Saturday, 21 November and ends with the final on Sunday, December 20. The Spirit of Cricket Award will be presented at the end of the tournament.

Rob Lynch, Director of Cricket and Operations at MCC, said MCC sees franchise leagues as the standard-bearers for playing the game in the right way—playing hard but playing fair and with a smile on your face.

Mike Fordham, Interim Chief Operating Officer of ILT20, said the partnership with MCC adds immense value to the league and combines perfectly with the way cricket is played at the DP World ILT20.

ILT20 season winners and venues

Key figures for ILT20 Season 5

Sources

• thenewsmill.com

• lokmattimes.com

• newsable.asianetnews.com

• Photo: Acabashi, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)