ICC pays tribute to Maxwell Smart at awards night

The ICC paid a fitting tribute to the memory of the late Don Adams in their announcement of the 2005 ICC Player of the Year in Sydney last night.

For the first time in the two-year history of the awards, the Gold Sobie was shared by Jacques Kallis and Andrew Flintoff. The two all-rounders each polled 86 points in the player of the year voting, thus equalling the number allocated to CONTROL agent Maxwell Smart, so lovingly portrayed by Adams, who died on September 25.

In other news from Gold Sobie night (so dubbed as a contraction of the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy), Kevin Pietersen became the first player with a raccoon on his head to win Emerging Player of the Year, ODI Player of the Year and a place in the ICC ODI World XI Team of the Year.

The reason for KP's abandonment of Paris Hilton became clear with the awards being held at a member of rival hotel chain Four Seasons.

Musical entertainment was provided at the awards ceremony by the New Shannon Noll (ie, Australian Idol runner-up for 2004), Mr Anthony Calleia. Where's Casey Donovan when you need her? Or even Silvie Paladino?

On a more serious note, I was present at the press conferences at the Four Seasons Sydney for Tuesday night's ICC Awards, and I'll say more on the subject tomorrow. I also have some audio for a future podcast.