ICC Spirit of Cricket Award | Fairplay Cricket Analysis

The ICC Spirit of Cricket Award recognises an action, gesture or decision that reflects cricket’s fair-play values, rather than batting, bowling or a team’s final position. The clearest verified examples include MS Dhoni’s decision to withdraw an appeal against Ian Bell in 2011, Daryl Mitchell declining a run after he felt he had obstructed a bowler in 2021, and Nepal wicketkeeper Aasif Sheikh choosing not to run out a fallen opponent in 2022. This guide separates those documented reasons from names for which the primary record reviewed here gives no incident detail.

Key takeaways

• The award is recognition of conduct, not a substitute for the Laws or the ICC’s disciplinary process.
• ICC’s retrospective record verifies recipients for 2011–2019; dated ICC announcements then verify Daryl Mitchell (2021), Aasif Sheikh (2022) and Zimbabwe (2023).
• Do not infer a recipient for 2020 or after 2023 from this page: this research did not locate a dated ICC announcement naming one.

What the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award recognises

At its most useful, the award is a public way of identifying conduct that puts respect and the game’s values alongside the wish to win. In its 2020 Awards of the Decade material, the ICC described the Spirit of Cricket category as covering an on-field action, moment, gesture or decision that best reflects the Spirit of Cricket. That description matters: it points readers toward the circumstances and choice involved, not a player’s season totals or a popularity ranking.

The MCC Preamble is the reference point

The Marylebone Cricket Club’s current official Preamble to the Laws says cricket should be played within the Spirit of Cricket as well as according to the Laws. It makes captains chiefly responsible for fair play, while extending that responsibility to players, match officials, and, in junior cricket, teachers, coaches and parents. The same Preamble makes respect central and calls on participants to accept umpire decisions, show self-discipline and acknowledge opponents and officials.

A Spirit award is not a reward for being passive: the Preamble asks participants to play hard and play fair. For more on those values, see our guide to the Spirit of Cricket.

Recognition is not a rules decision

An award does not change a match score or overturn an umpire’s decision. The ICC Code of Conduct is the formal framework for improper conduct; the award looks back at conduct the ICC chose to recognise.

Verified winners and documented reasons

This is a selected verified record, not a claim to be a complete all-time or uninterrupted annual list. ICC’s 2020 retrospective names 2011–2019 recipients, while dated ICC material identifies 2021–2023. Where the primary record names a winner but does not explain the incident, this table says so rather than repeating an unsupported anecdote.

ICC Spirit of Cricket Award recipients verified in ICC material reviewed for this draft

Award year	Recipient	What the cited primary record establishes
2011	MS Dhoni (India)	India withdrew its appeal after Ian Bell’s run-out; the ICC later identified that incident as the 2011 award-winning moment.
2012	Daniel Vettori (New Zealand)	Named in ICC’s 2011–2019 retrospective; the source reviewed does not repeat the underlying incident.
2013	Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka)	Named in the same ICC retrospective; incident detail was not established in the source set.
2014	Katherine Brunt (England)	Named in the same ICC retrospective; incident detail was not established in the source set.
2015	Brendon McCullum (New Zealand)	Named in the same ICC retrospective; incident detail was not established in the source set.
2016	Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan)	Named in the same ICC retrospective; incident detail was not established in the source set.
2017	Anya Shrubsole (England)	Named in the same ICC retrospective; incident detail was not established in the source set.
2018	Kane Williamson (New Zealand)	ICC cited his role-model conduct on and off the field.
2019	Virat Kohli (India)	Named in ICC’s 2011–2019 retrospective; incident detail was not established in the source set.
2021	Daryl Mitchell (New Zealand)	Declined a single after feeling he had obstructed England’s Adil Rashid.
2022	Aasif Sheikh (Nepal)	Did not run out Ireland’s Andy McBrine after McBrine fell while attempting a run.
2023	Zimbabwe	Zimbabwe players consoled West Indies’ Akeal Hosein after a World Cup Qualifier defeat.

The recipient names for 2011–2019 in the first nine rows come from the ICC’s Awards of the Decade announcement. That record also says MS Dhoni won the decade version of the Spirit award after fans voted on the previous winners. It supports the names, but not a detailed reason for every winner, so the deliberately limited wording in the table is part of the evidence standard.

Five reasons that are documented

MS Dhoni, 2011: England’s Ian Bell had been run out after believing the ball had reached the boundary. During tea, India’s team led by Dhoni withdrew the appeal and Bell resumed his innings. ICC identifies that decision as the 2011 award moment.

Kane Williamson, 2018: ICC said the award recognised him as an outstanding role model in the way he conducted himself on and off the field. The source does not reduce the rationale to one ball or one decision.

Daryl Mitchell, 2021: In the T20 World Cup semi-final against England in Abu Dhabi, Mitchell refused a possible single because he believed he had obstructed Adil Rashid as the bowler tried to stop the ball. ICC records the decision on the first ball of the 18th over, with New Zealand needing 34 from three overs.

Aasif Sheikh, 2022: In Nepal’s Quadrangular series match against Ireland in Oman, Andy McBrine fell after a collision while trying to run. McBrine was short of his ground when the throw reached Sheikh, but Sheikh did not remove the bails.

Zimbabwe, 2023: This was a team recognition. ICC said Zimbabwean players comforted Akeal Hosein after West Indies lost a high-intensity World Cup Qualifier match. The recipient was listed simply as Zimbabwe.

What these winners show about fair play

The verified cases show immediate choices where a side could seek an advantage—Dhoni’s team withdrawing an appeal, Mitchell declining a run and Sheikh not completing a run-out—alongside recognition of sustained conduct (Williamson) and a team’s empathy (Zimbabwe). The award has no single fixed form.

The connecting idea is judgment where respect, self-discipline or care for an opponent is visibly at stake. The source record should lead: describe what was recognised before attaching a larger moral story to it.

For comparison with other documented incidents, our collection of famous fair-play moments in cricket keeps the event, actor and source distinct. A compelling clip is not enough by itself to establish an award recipient or the reason for an award.

How to read a Spirit award claim carefully

First identify whether a claim concerns an ICC award, the MCC’s general principle, or another competition’s fair-play recognition. Similar labels are not interchangeable: the IPL Fair Play Award explained page is a league recognition, not evidence for this ICC recipient list.

1. Start with the official recipient and year. A dated ICC announcement is stronger evidence than a copied list.
2. Use only the reason the source gives. A decision not to take a run is not proof of a wider backstory.
3. Separate recognition from adjudication. The Code of Conduct concerns formal discipline; a Spirit award is retrospective recognition.
4. Keep team context intact. Do not turn Zimbabwe’s collective 2023 gesture into an individual award without primary evidence.

Latest verified status and open gaps

Verified through sources accessed on 21 October 2026: the latest dated ICC announcement located for this research names Zimbabwe as the 2023 recipient, published 24 January 2024. The official 2024 Awards page displays its winner categories but no Spirit of Cricket entry. That does not prove the award ended or no later recipient exists; this draft simply has no dated primary announcement to name one.

It therefore does not name a 2026 winner or assume an award was made in 2020. Add a future recipient only when a dated ICC source verifies both year and reason.

For more sourced explainers on respectful competition, visit the Fair Play hub.

Draft by Manus AI; editorial review pending. This local draft is dated 21 October 2026 and has not previously been published.