New Zealand player Daryl Mitchell has won the prestigious ICC Spirit of Cricket Award for 2021 on Wednesday, February 2. Mitchell has received the ICC honour for refusing a single during the run chase in a match against England in the semi-final of T20 World Cup 2021 in Abu Dhabi and due to that, he was rewarded.
However, New Zealand were chasing a target of 167 to enter the final of the mega event. At a stage, the Kane Williamson-led side were in need of 34 from 18 balls. Adil Rashid tried to stop a ball on his follow-through after James Neesham hit it just wide of the bowler. While Rashid collided with non-striker Mitchell and he didn’t take a single as he felt he was in the bowler’s way as well.
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Daryl Mitchell had won the match for his team as he played a knock of unbeaten 72, and helped New Zealand reach the final of the T20 World Cup 2021. After receiving the Spirit of Cricket Award, Mitchell said that his team wanted to win the game within the spirit of cricket, and so he refused to take the single. Notably, he is the fourth Kiwi player to have received this award after Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson.
“It is a real honour to receive the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award and it was absolutely amazing to be part of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup that happened in UAE last year,” Daryl Mitchell said. “Reflecting back, it was a pretty tight game against England at the semi-final of the tournament with only a few overs to go, Neesh hit a single down to long-off and I think I obstructed Rashid who was trying to get to the ball.”
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“We pride ourselves as a team, in the way we play our cricket and I guess that’s the spirit of cricket. Personally, I felt like I got in the way, and we wanted to win but on our own terms. I guess it paid off in the long run, that we won the game. We want to win every game, but we don’t want to do it in a way that goes against the values of cricket. The spirit of cricket is very important. It is a platform for young cricketers to watch and learn and to get inspired to play the game and go about winning it in the right way,” Daryl Mitchell concluded.
