Cricket's version of the Oscars - 2016

The 88th Annual Academy Awards, more commonly known as the Oscar Awards, took place with much aplomb on February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Many big names won awards for their top performances, especially Leonardo di Caprio, who had been missing out on the award for years.We have come up with our own award list for cricketing performances over the calendar year 2015. We also include the first two months of the year 2016. Not all categories in our list are exactly as are in the original Oscars list....and the award goes to:

#12 Best Entertainer: Brendon McCullum

The first Cricket Oscar is the Best Entertainer Award that is given to the most exciting cricketer in the last 14 months. There is no real competition for the now-retired New Zealand skipper, Brendon McCullum, who has been the most entertaining player in the last one year.

Every cricketer dreams of retiring from the game on a high. McCullum lived that dream as he scored the fastest ever Test hundred as he smashed the Australian bowlers on his way to a 54-ball hundred in his last Test.

It definitely was not the most elegant of innings, but it spoke volumes of how McCullum played cricket his way. No matter what format he played in, McCullum batted to entertain.

Since the start of 2015, McCullum scored 1523 runs in 47 international innings, hitting nine half-centuries and two centuries. He walloped bowlers during New Zealand's road to a maiden appearance in a world cup final during the 2015 ICC World Cup. His 25-ball 77 against England was one of the most attacking and entertaining innings in One-Day international cricket.

In T20s in 2015, McCullum scored two centuries with one of them being an unbeaten 64-ball 158 for Warwickshire against Derbyshire in the Natwest T20 Blast.

All this just amounts to conclude the special and entertaining talent that Brendon McCullum was in his cricketing career, not just the last one year.

Also read: Asia Cup 2016: India vs Sri Lanka – Live streaming, team news, squad, date, match timings