Following the nominations for the annual ICC awards, I can't help but feel that South Africa have once again been hard done by an international sporting body.

The press has been filled with stories over the last couple of months about the inconsistencies in the IRB citing commission. The Bakkies Botha saga and its repercussions as well as the non-citing of Matt Giteau have already been discussed to death and I'm not going to get into those topics here.

Although Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers have both been nominated twice and Dale Steyn once - which is just reward for their achievements over the last year - there have been some glaring omissions, particularly in the category for Emerging Players.

The fact that not one of JP Duminy, Wayne Parnell and Roelof van der Merwe received a nomination after the impact they have made on the international scene over the last 12 months is something of a travesty in my opinion.

To illustrate my point, the nominations in that category are Martin Guptill (NZL), Ben Hilfenhaus (AUS), Philip Hughes (AUS), Amit Mishra (IND), Graham Onions (ENG), Kemar Roach (WIS), Jesse Ryder (NZL) and Peter Siddle (AUS).

I am not going to go into the merits of each nomination as the majority of these players indeed deserve praise, but the presence of one particular name on that list I simply do not understand.

I am of course talking about 21-year-old West Indian Kemar Roach. The young Barbadian has played two Test matches - both against Bangladesh (in a home series the Windies lost), but wouldn't have even been selected had it not been for the player strike that is currently on the go in the Caribbean. To add to that, he has played five One Day Internationals - three in the same series against Bangladesh (which the Windies lost as well) and one each against Bermuda and Canada in the Scotiabank Series.

Not exactly the superpowers of world cricket.

Fair enough, Roach's performances were one of the few highlights for the West Indies, but were they enough to warrant a nomination for a top international award?

I can almost understand Duminy's exclusion ? he, after all, made his ODI debut way back in 2004 but then again he only made his Test debut in Australia last year and his performances during that series are what put him on the map.

Neither Van der Merwe nor Parnell have made their Test debuts yet - and Roelof probably never will batting like he does - but surely their performances against Australia and during the World T20 warrant a nomination at least? Especially as both were selected in the 'Team of the Tournament' afterwards?

Perhaps it is just a massive case of sour grapes on my side, but is interesting that the selection committee was lead by a West Indian and there weren't any South Africans on it.

The strength of the performances by the three South Africans means it should not have mattered though.

  • Do you agree with Barend? Do you think the ICC are biased against South Africa? Leave your opinion below!