Scotland, USA Bag Major Accolades In ICC Development Awards 2024

Arnav Chopra

USA and Scotland Women (Source: @CricCrazyJohns/X.com, @CricketScotland/X.com)USA and Scotland Women (Source: @CricCrazyJohns/X.com, @CricketScotland/X.com)

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has declared the winners of the ICC Development Awards 2024. Eight nation boards have won awards across seven different categories for their efforts in promoting cricket.

ICC Development Award Winners Announced In A Major Initiative

The ICC has now announced the seven awards for last year's development program, which has eight winners overall, receiving top accolades.

1. ICC Development Initiative of the Year Winner: Cricket Namibia

Cricket Namibia has been awarded the ICC Development Initiative of the Year award for their Ashburton Kwata Mini-Cricket Programme, which has made cricket accessible to students across 14 local regions. This development initiative ensured that children in various locations received high-quality sporting training.

2. ICC Female Cricket Initiative of the Year Winner: Bhutan Cricket Council Board and Vanuatu Cricket Association

For the ICC Female Cricket Initiative of the Year, the apex cricket-giving body has announced the Bhutan Cricket Council Board and the Vanuatu Cricket Council as the joint winners of this initiative for their efforts in ensuring female participation in the sport. Bhutan’s inter-school girls' competition and Vanuatu's "Picking Wickets" program were the reasons they received the award.

3. ICC Associate Member Men’s Performance of the Year Winner: USA Cricket

USA Cricket, (United States of America Cricket), has received the award for their Men's Performance of the Year, as their men's cricket team performed exceptionally well during 2024, especially during the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024, where they rocked Pakistan and then reached the Super 8 stage of the tournament, featuring among the best. Additionally, they also shocked Bangladesh before the T20 World Cup, as their side had been outstanding throughout the year, delivering results regularly.

4. ICC Associate Member Women’s Performance of the Year Winner: Cricket Scotland

For the Women's Performance Team of the Year, Cricket Scotland has been awarded this honour due to the fact that the team qualified for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup for the very first time, with skipper Kathryn Bryce being awarded the Player of the Tournament award. This ensured that cricket in Scotland received massive interest.

5. ICC Digital Fan Engagement of the Year Winner: Cricket Association of Nepal

For producing excellent social media content across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), and the newly lauched CAN domestic Facebook accounts, the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has been awarded the ICC Digital Fan Engagement Award for their outstanding contribution on social media, where they received approximately 117 million reach while gaining more than 420,000 followers (from 1.17 million to 1.59 million followers). Additionally, the YouTube watch times skyrocketed to 277% as the watch time expanded to 2.13 million hours, while Instagram views marched over 40 million, which became popular across social media.

6. Cricket 4 Good Social Impact Initiative of the Year Winner: Persatuan Cricket Indonesia

Persatuan Cricket Indonesia have been chosen for the Cricket for Good Social Media Impact Initiative of the Year award for their launch of the "Cricket for Confidence" movement, which ensured that school girls in the region received proper cricket training, where girls from remote areas also received proper training with the program.

7. ICC X Rexona Criio Festival of the Year Winner: Tanzania Cricket Association

For the first time, the ICC Festival of the Year award was presented to the Tanzania Cricket Association for their initiative in promoting the game in 2024. This initiative involved selecting more than 120 women to play cricket in Dar es Salaam, thereby encouraging women to join the sport.

ICC Chairman Jay Shah Speaks After Declaring The Winners

After announcing these awards, the ICC chairman, Mr. Jay Shah, was highly pleased with the amount of effort these boards have put into ensuring cricket remains sustainable globally.

“It is a pleasure to announce the global winners of the ICC Development Awards. This is a celebration of global exceptionalism, with all winners worthy of the accolades they have received in their mission to grow the game in emerging nations."

The ICC aims to achieve targets with diversity and inclusion, alongside promoting women's sport, which these awards for Associate nations reflect.