The Spirit of Cricket Award

Origins

The “Spirit of Cricket” forms part of the preamble to the Laws of Cricket. In mid-2002, the West Australian Branch of the Lord’s Taverners approached the Western Australian Cricket association and suggested that there ought to be a formal award to acknowledge the “Spirit of Cricket” ethos at grade cricket level. So the two bodies worked co-operatively to introduce a points system to be introduced in the 2002/03 season whereby umpires awarded votes in all grades each week. At the end of the season a trophy was presented to the club with the highest points.

The West Australian Branch presented a paper at the November National Conference outlining this initiative and encouraging other Branches to follow suit.

Inspired by this initiative, The Tasmanian Branch approached the Tasmanian Cricket Association in November 2002 and after discussions over the next seven months, it was agreed that a “Spirit of Cricket” Award should be introduced into the three regional grade competitions in Tasmania. The feedback from the three associations was that both administrators and umpires welcomed the initiative and embraced it enthusiastically.

Once this Western Australian initiative was made known to Cricket Australia, it too embraced the concept and immediately introduced a number of similar awards at the highest level of domestic cricket from the 2003/04 season.

The winning club in each region receives a commemorative plaque to keep, and, for the first time, perpetual honour boards showing the annual winners were presented to the three regional associations.

Spirit Of Cricket Awards 2008-09

The winning clubs in 2008-09 were Ulverstone in Cricket North West region (for the fourth time in six years), North Hobart in The TCA southern region (first time winners), and South Launceston in the Northern Tasmania Cricket Association (second time).

Each was presented with their annual commemorative plaque and for the first tiem each association was presented with a perpetual honour board.

Again it was noted with pride by The Lords Taverners that the attitude of players and the spirit in which the game is being played (at grade level cricket at least) continues to please administrators and umpires alike.

Spirit Of Cricket Awards 2007-08

The winning clubs in 2007-08 were Ulverstone in Cricket North West region (for the third time in five years), Lindisfarne in The TCA southern region (also for the third time in five years), and Westbury Shamrocks in the Northern Tasmania Cricket Association (second time in five years).

2006/2007 Spirit of Cricket Awards

The fourth year of the awards in Tasmania saw three different clubs take out the awards for the three regional grade cricket competitions. The awards were presented by the Lords Taverners at end-of-season functions in the three regions.

In the south, New Town Cricket Club stopped Lindisfarne’s hat-trick attempt,
as did Devonport Cricket Club in the NWTCA did to Ulverstone Cricket Club.
In the NTCA, George Town became the fourth club in four years to win the award.

Most satisfying for us was the comment from Chairman of The Umpires Appointment Board, Richard Widows, that the Taverners should be proud that they are responsible for the vast improvement in the behaviour and spirit in which the clubs approach their cricket. He mentioned particularly the advice he received from Rick Lewis in WA when he sought his views on how the new award was affecting cricket over there in the year it was introduced.

He also commented that it was the lead from the WA Taverners that prompted action by Cricket Australia at other levels of the game and how this had helped overall. My comment to him was that it was a pity that Cricket Australia did not recognise the role of the Taverners in this.

2005/2006 Spirit of Cricket Awards

The third year of these awards for the three regional grade cricket competitions were presented at end-of-year functions by the Tasmanian Taverners. And again the feedback from administrators, umpires and players alike was very positive. It is clear that this award is much valued by the clubs themselves.

For the first time we have two back-to-back winners:

Lindisfarne in the Tasmanian Cricket Association (Southern)
Ulverstone in the North West Tasmanian Cricket Association.

Both are young clubs rebuilding with youth, with Lindisfarne joint winners of the club championship with firsts and thirds in finals and premiers in the U15’s, whilst Ulverstone had their junior colts in grand finals and seconds in the finals.

The Northern Tasmanian Cricket Association Award was won by Mowbray Cricket Club (Ricky Ponting’s proud club) and they were runners up in the club championship.

The Lindisfarne Administration Manager made a telling point when he said that he was more proud of this trophy than the club championship and wanted to also make the observation that you don’t have to finish last on the field to win it.

2004/2005 Spirit of Cricket Awards

The second year of awards were presented in the three regional grade cricket competitions at club functions in March and April this year.

And three different clubs shared the spoils.

Lindisfarne cricket Club in The Tasmanian Cricket Association (Southern)
Ulverstone District Cricket Club in The North West Tasmanian Cricket Assc.
South Launceston in The Northern Tasmanian Cricket Associatio

It is worth noting that these clubs fielded the youngest teams in both first and second grades, an encouraging sign that clearly reflects the intent of the Spirit of Cricket as enshrined in the preamble to The Laws of Cricket.

2003/2004 Spirit of Cricket Awards

Following the successful launch of the “Spirit of Cricket” Award in the WACA competition last season, the Tasmania Branch introduced the concept to the Tasmanian Cricket Association who embraced the award and set it up in the three regional grade cricket competitions this season. Thanks to the help of the WA Branch through Harry Sorenson, there will be a commemorative plaque presented to the winning club in each region each year.

The inaugural winners for the 2003-04 season were University Club in the TCA competition, Westbury Shamrocks in NTCA competition and Burnie-Yoeman in the NWCA competition.