An Irish cricketer will be the first in more than thirty years to win a Texaco Sports Star Award at a ceremony in Dublin later this month.

The Texaco Awards are selected by a panel comprising of most of the sports editors in the Republic and the ten stars they nominate each year are feted at a televised banquet. The major sports of golf, football, Gaelic football, hurling, rugby, racing and athletics are invariably picked every year but the three other spots are usually up for grabs. The sport of cricket has been selected this year for the first time since 1973 and the winning name will be announced on 23 November.

While it is expected that the cricketer is almost certain to be Ed Joyce, the performances of many other members of the Irish side would be worthy of honour in an exceptional season for the Irish game. Only three previous Texaco awards have been made to cricketers, Stanley Bergin in 1959 and Dermott Monteith in 1971 and 1973.