New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell was on Wednesday named the recipient of the ICC ‘Spirit of Cricket’ award 2021 for not taking an easy single during the T20 World Cup semi-final versus England last year as he felt he had “obstructed” the way of bowler Adil Rashid in that moment.

Mitchell, who opened the batting for New Zealand in the World Cup, won the award for his gesture during the game in Abu Dhabi on November 10, which the Black Caps won by five wickets.

Mitchell also proved to be the match-winner in that game, playing a memorable knock of 72 not out off only 47 balls, while also hitting the winning runs to take New Zealand to the final.

Mitchell is the fourth New Zealand player to win the award, following in the footsteps of Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson.

“It’s an honour to receive the ICC ‘Spirit of Cricket’ award,” the 30-year-old Mitchell said.

“To be part of that T20 World Cup in UAE was an amazing experience, and to receive an award like this is pretty cool. It’s something that we pride ourselves on as New Zealanders, the way we go about playing our cricket, and yes, the Spirit of Cricket side.

“Personally, I felt I got in the way and we wanted to win on our own terms, and didn’t want to be controversial in such a big game.

“It paid off in the long run that we won the game. Looking back, it all happened pretty quickly.”

The incident occurred in the first ball of the 18th over bowled by Rashid, with the score at 133/4 and James Neesham on strike. Neesham hit the ball down the ground and it would have been an easy single. But Mitchell, at the non-striker’s end, refused to take the run, conceding that he had impeded Rashid in what truly was a high-pressure chase with a place in the final at stake.

Mitchell, explaining why he refused to take the single, added: “It was a pretty tight game against England in that semi-final, with only a few overs to go.

Neesh hit a single down to long-off and I felt like I’d obstructed Rashid from getting to the ball.

“The game that we play, we play it because we love it. Yes, we want to win as much as we can, but we don’t want that to come about from doing things that go against the values of cricket.

“Spirit of Cricket is vitally important. It sets a platform for kids in the future, as they will then go about playing the game in the right way.

“At the end of the day, it is a game and it’s something that we love. So obviously we’re so lucky to do that.”