The Kia Oval will continue to display the best entries from the prestigious annual ‘Wisden Cricket Photograph of the Year’ competition.
Ten photographs selected from the best of the 2020 entries have been displayed in the new reception area for the Galadari Stand, used as a large Kia Oval Shop on match days, since mid-season.
These will be updated ahead of the 2022 summer of cricket, to give fans, Members and other visitors to the ground a chance to see some of the finest cricket photographs to have been taken around the world over the past twelve months.
Entries are now open for this year’s competition, click here for more information. The three best photos, judged by an expert panel of judges, will feature in the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, with a £1,000 prize for the overall winner and £400 for two other shortlisted entries.
It is free to enter and the only stipulations are that images must have a cricketing theme and have been taken during the 2021 calendar year. Entries, to a maximum of three per person, must be submitted online at: www.wisden.com/photographoftheyear.
Last year’s winning entry (below) was taken by former Australia captain Steve Waugh, who took a superb image of an early-morning game being played in the Thar Desert near Osian in Rajasthan, India.
The two other shortlisted photographs were of a flying Jordan Silk, taken by Darrion Traynor during last year’s Big Bash League in Australia and a young spectator soaking up the sun whilst watching a game at the dramatic Lynton and Lynmouth Cricket Club in North Devon.
To see these photographs on the Wisden website, please click here.
Other photographs currently displayed include two with strong Surrey connections – one of a ghostly Kia Oval during a T20 match played behind closed doors in 2020 and another of Surrey off-spinner Amar Virdi bowling at the picturesque Arundel Castle ground in West Sussex, also during the shortened 2020 summer of cricket.
The competition aims to promote and sustain cricket in all of its forms in every corner of the globe, from an international match played in front of thousands, to a game between children on the street.
The independent judging panel will be chaired by Chris Smith, former chief sports photographer of The Sunday Times. Also on the panel are the acclaimed cricket photographer Patrick Eagar; cricket filming and photography manager Clare Adams; and Nigel Davies, the former art director of The Wisden Cricketer.
The editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, Lawrence Booth, said: “The summer of 2021 felt like something approaching a return to normality, and we are very much looking forward to seeing how cricket-loving photographers – professional and amateur – responded to a game that was finding its feet again.
“Each year, our competition has been inundated with superb images from all over the cricketing world, and we fully expect the standard to be as high as ever.”
