Not one South African features in the short list of the LG ICC awards for 2009, a measure of the outstanding players.

It’s a kick in the face, and hard to believe that the number 1 ranked test side, and recently number 1 ranked one day side (Australia have an equal number of points, but have moved ahead on a mathematical difference for now) cannot have 1 player or official up for nomination.

Whilst there are some very good players nominated from other countries who deserve their nominations, the strength of the Proteas has been their team performances. As a unit they’ve excelled, which may be a reason why the ICC found it hard to single out members of their squad for individual recognition.

However a side cannot become number 1 without stand out performances from individuals, and Graeme Smith, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Dale Steyn, Roelof van der Merwe, Johan Botha and Wayne Parnell are players who stood out for me, and deserving of higher accolades.

Here are the shortlisted nominees:

Cricketer of the Year

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind)
Gautam Gambhir (Ind)
Mitchell Johnson (Aus)
Andrew Strauss (Eng)

Test Player of the Year

Gautam Gambhir (Ind)
Mitchell Johnson (Aus)
Thilan Samaraweera (SL)
Andrew Strauss (Eng)

ODI Player of the Year

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind)
Virender Sehwag (Ind)
Yuvraj Singh (Ind)

Emerging Player

Ben Hilfenhaus (Aus)
Graham Onions (Eng)
Jesse Ryder (NZ)
Peter Siddle (Aus)

Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year

Rizwan Cheema (Can)
Ryan ten Doeschate (Ned)
William Porterfield (Ire)
Edgar Schiferli (Ned)

Twenty20 International Performance of the Year

Shahid Afridi (Pak) for scoring 51 off 34 balls and taking 2-16 against South Africa during the ICC WT20 semi-final in Nottingham on 18 June
Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL) for scoring 96 not out off 57 balls against the West Indies in the semi-final of the ICC WT20 at The Oval on 19 June
Chris Gayle (WI) – for hitting 88 off 50 balls against Australia during the ICC WT20 at The Oval on 6 June
Umar Gul (Pak) for taking 5-6 against New Zealand during the ICC WT20 at The Oval on 13 June

Women’s Cricketer of the Year

Charlotte Edwards (Eng)
Shelley Nitschke (Aus)
Claire Taylor (Eng)

Umpire of the Year

Aleem Dar
Tony Hill
Asad Rauf
Simon Taufel

Spirit of Cricket
Australia
England
New Zealand
Sri Lanka

As the number 1 ranked test nation, I thought Graeme Smith and Dale Steyn were two stand out performers. Their omissions were hard to understand.

I am surprised to see Yuvraj Singh and Shivnarine Chandepaul in the ODI player of the year. Not 1 South African player made the long list of nominees, with some surprising names like Martin Guptil of New Zealand included. Nothing against Guptil, but was not even 1 South African player worthy of inclusion?

The one that ranks the highest for me was the spirit of cricket award. I would like to think South Africa have conducted themselves in a very humble, manner and shown themselves to be great role models for their country. They have always played in the spirit of the game, and to not see their nomination is a major worry.

I would like to think there is nothing sinister in these nominations. Publicly the Proteas have remained very focused on the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy to be played in South Africa. Privately they’ll have a little extra motivation to do well and show the ICC they have the best side, and the best players in the world!