ACC awards on July 5

ACC awards on July 5

Puri: Four years after the International Cricket Council introduced annual awards, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has decided to present eight awards to mark the silver jubilee of its existence.
The awards will be presented in Karachi on July 5, on the eve of the Asia Cup final.

“What’s confirmed is that the awards are being presented that day... Right now, though, I can’t say whether they will become a regular feature,” the ACC’s chief executive, Syed Ashraful Huq, told The Telegraph.

Speaking from Kuala Lumpur, where the ACC is headquartered, on Wednesday afternoon, Huq added: “There will be two Lifetime Achievement awards, one each for a cricketer and an administrator... The other awards will be for the year 2007 — Best Test Batsman and Bowler, Best ODI Batsman and Bowler, Woman Cricketer of the Year and the Umpire of the Year.”

According to Huq, the chief executives (or those holding an equivalent position) of the four Test-playing nations in Asia are on the selection panel, which is chaired by ACC vice-president Khwaja Imran of Singapore.
While Niranjan Shah is India’s representative, Duleep Mendis (Sri Lanka), Shafqat Nagmi (Pakistan) and Nizamuddin Choudhury (Bangladesh) are the other selectors.

There’s speculation that while Pakistan’s legendary Hanif Mohammed could get the Lifetime Achievement award in the cricketers’ category, the ACC’s first president, India’s N.K.P. Salve, could be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award for administrators.

Salve and Pakistan’s Air Marshal (retd) Nur Khan had taken the lead in forming the ACC, not many months after Salve had been denied “a couple of complimentaries/tickets” for the history-creating 1983 World Cup final at Lord’s.
Those complimentaries/tickets, apparently, were needed for Salve’s colleagues in the Union cabinet, who’d decided to take the first flight for London once Kapil Dev’s team made the final.
Salve was then the Board of Control for Cricket in India president.

Meanwhile, all former presidents and secretaries as also those who attended the inaugural meeting of the ACC, on September 19-20, 1983, have been invited for the July 5 function.

Bangladesh’s Huq, incidentally, was one of those who attended that meeting in New Delhi.