Daryl Mitchell wins ‘Spirit of Cricket Award’ 2021 for his class gesture in T20 World Cup

New Zealand all rounder and T20 World Cup finalist - Daryl Mitchell has received the 2021 spirit of cricket award for his denial of a single in nail-biting England vs New Zealand semi final encounter in the T20 World Cup.

Mitchell, who was under the pump in that game, refused to take a single while his team needed 34 off the final three overs. At the start of the 18th over, Mitchell had gotten in the way of bowler Adil Rashid, while the Englishman was trying to stop the ball hit by James Neesham. While Rashid failed to get close to the ball, Mitchell, who had a clear single for the taking, said ‘No’ to his partner’s call.

This ended up earning accolades from the commentary box as well as social media, where people presented the incident as an example of fair competition. New Zealand won the game by a margin of 5 wickets and an over remaining. The right-hander top scored in the line up with 72 off 47 balls

Mitchell had spoken after the game about the incident and had stated that he did not want there to be any controversy after the game.

“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,” Mitchell was quoted by the ICC website.

“Personally, there are more important things than winning a game of cricket and at that moment it was the right thing to do,” the awardee concluded.