Dolphins rising star, Grant Roelofsen, has proved to be more than just a wicket-keeper over the past year and it was because of his batting finesse that he managed to reap the rewards of picking up the coveted Momentum One Day Cup Cricketer of the Season accolade, writes Marc Jacobson.

Young at heart and very much young in the game with still a lot more to showcase, the 23-year-old managed to turn heads and drop jaws after just four years of breaking onto the scene in provincial cricket.

Roelofsen amassed the most runs at the conclusion of the 2019/20 one-day competition of a total 588 runs, which included five 50s and one hundred. The latter milestone came against the Titans in February where he scored an unbeaten 147, the fourth-highest score of the tournament.

Impressively, the KES alumnus also scored the best average in the league of an astounding 65.33, while his strike-rate was the second-highest of all the batsmen who had scored 300 or more runs. In that department, his 97.51 merely lost out to Zubayr Hamza’s 97.81 by a whisker.

To add sweetener to his season, Roelefsen didn’t stray from his glove duties either, having captured the most dismissals of 16, which included 10 catches and six stumpings. His rate of dismissals was also the second-highest, counting to 1.6 per innings – second only to Nicky van den Bergh’s count of 2.0.

He was certainly quick to acknowledge the players and associates in his set-up, who had all played their parts in his journey of becoming an esteemed servant of the domestic game.

“To win the One-Day Cup Cricketer of the Year is obviously very special to me. [But] I don’t think it’s all my doing – I’m probably just under the banner of the Dolphins,” a humble Roelofsen told Cricket Fanatics Magazine.

“We’ve had an awesome season as a group to win the competition. For me, personally, to get some recognition out of that is obviously very pleasing.”

Even his highlight of the season painted the broader picture of teamwork and collective tactfulness.

“My highlight of the season has to be winning the competition,” he said. “Like I said, [playing with] such a special group of guys and to be rewarded with the trophy for all our hard work was very pleasing.”

As much as Roelofsen gave credit to those around him, the gesture was strongly reciprocated.

With his achievements, assumedly, the start of an upward journey for the KwaZulu-Natal-based talisman, he also managed to proudly claim the Players’ Player of the Season prize, which showed the positive effects he had on those around him – both on and off the field.

“It’s such a special award, in my opinion, and I think it’s really special to be recognized by your peers,” he said.

“It was obviously something I didn’t expect. I was actually a little bit speechless by it all – to get that [sort of] recognition from your peers was very special.”

At such a young age, and with much promise to still deliver heading into next season, his flair with both the bat and gloves will, without a doubt, not stop here. Roelofsen had expressed in February his “hunger for runs”, which should translate and transgress into a new coming of age for the youngster.