The winner of the MCC cricket photograph of the year competition froze a momentous occasion in time by picturing Sachin Tendulkar emerging for his final Test innings in his home town of Mumbai.

This sort of picture is usually a record of an event with unremarkable qualities, but the photo by Atul Kamble, a professional working for Mid-Day Media, captures the eager anticipation of the crowd, giving animation to an important incident during the match against the West Indies. The focus of the light seems to give the batsman an appropriate god-like significance.

 

The winning picture and the two runner-up entries have been published in the new Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. Chris Smith, chief sports photographer at The Sunday Times and chair of the judging panel, said the standard of entry was again very high. “In the end the sheer sense of occasion that the winning image captured won us over,” he said, “and I would like to thoroughly congratulate Atul on winning the competition.”

The runners-up were Shaun Roy, a professional South African photographer, and Khalid Rayhan Shawon, an amateur from Bangladesh. Roy captured the moment the  Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli was hit in the face as he dropped a catch in the Indian Premier League match against Kings XI Punjab. Shawon showed an image of children playing cricket under the Shahjalal International Airport flight path in Dhaka.

The judging panel of Smith, Patrick Eagar, Nigel Davies, Eileen Langsley and Hugh Routledge chose Kamble’s image from a short list of 11 compiled from nearly 500 entries from around the world. All the short-listed photos will be displayed at the Lord’s museum this season. First prize is £1,000, runners up are awarded £750 each and the other eight near misses £150. Smith added: “It was a pleasure to look through them all with my fellow judges.”

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