ICC pauses 2025 awards amid debate over a Ballon d’Or-style prize for cricket
The International Cricket Council said in a statement on 20 October 2026 that it had withheld its 2025 annual awards while it rethought the platform for recognising players and achievements. The pause has reopened discussion about whether cricket needs a single, global player-of-the-year prize comparable to football’s Ballon d’Or.
Football’s annual Ballon d’Or remains a focal point for individual honours — the golden ball is being presented at the London Palladium this month to Harry Kane/Lamine Yamal/Lionel Messi (let us know in the comments!). Media attention around that trophy has at times been intense, from a BBC headline in July reading “How World Cup final could be pivotal in Ballon d’Or race” to Real Madrid’s boycott of the 2024 ceremony after Vinícius Júnior finished second. By contrast, cricket currently celebrates individual feats through statistics such as hundreds, five-wicket hauls and averages, and through the ICC’s separate rankings for batters, bowlers and all-rounders across formats for men and women.
The ICC’s own annual awards were launched in 2004 and include the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the men’s cricketer of the year and the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for the women’s equivalent; the last declared winners named for international performances in 2024 were Jasprit Bumrah and Melie Kerr. There was no awards edition in 2025, a gap even committed followers of the sport might have missed.
An ICC spokesperson said: "The ICC has presented its annual awards digitally for a number of years, but we deliberately held back the 2025 edition to rethink what that platform can, and should, look like." The spokesperson added: "As a result of that rethink, we are now in the process of developing a new approach to the ICC awards, which will return in 2027 and treat 2025-26 as a single season, as we look to create a broader, more meaningful way for cricket to celebrate its leading players, teams and achievements." The spokesperson also said there is "a real opportunity for the awards to become a significant global occasion for cricket that generates genuine excitement on the calendar".
Alongside the ICC prizes, the Wisden almanack runs its own honours, notably the five Cricketers of the Year, chosen by the editor on the basis of performances in the previous English summer and limited to a one-time award. Wisden also publishes the Leading Cricketer in the World, introduced in the 2004 almanack for men with the women’s version added 11 years later; the current holders named in the almanack are Mitchell Starc and Deepti Sharma.
The almanack has also produced retrospective Leading Cricketer winners for the 20th century, with Don Bradman listed on 10 occasions from 1930 to 1948. According to Lawrence Booth, the almanack’s editor, being one of the five is still "the plum prize", having been around since 1889. "That's the prize that most people talk about," Booth says. "That has a resonance in a way that the Leading Cricketer doesn't quite yet. "The Leading Cricketer in the World is our chance to point out that we're not just Anglocentric and that we take into account all kinds of cricket throughout the year and all nationalities. It's similar to the ICC awards – you could predict in a way who's going to win those awards because it's generally the leading run-scorer or wicket-taker, whereas the five is a bit more quirky. The five is the one that most people ask about."
There is currently no single, glitzy ceremony in cricket with a crowning visual comparable to the Ballon d’Or presentation backed by Uefa, and the ICC is considering how best to reconfigure its awards while other governance issues remain priorities. The article argues a prestigious, refreshed prize could be worthwhile and, if given sufficient profile, might provide a narrative during otherwise uneventful white-ball series; it suggests names such as Harry Brook, Beth Mooney, Shai Hope and Shree Charani among potential contenders for 2026 honours. The piece contrasts football’s fervour for an individual trophy — noting Rio Ferdinand cried: "Ballon d'Or, Ballon d'Or, Ballon d'Or!" as Vinícius sealed Real Madrid's Champions League triumph two years ago — with the view that cricket does not currently demand an equivalent fanfare, joking that "we don't need Michael Atherton screaming: 'Wisden, Wisden, Wisden!' as Brook reaches three figures in a World Cup final."
The confirmed next step from the ICC is that its awards will return in 2027 and treat 2025-26 as a single season, as the governing body develops a new approach to recognise leading players, teams and achievements.
