National Team captains Faf du Plessis and Dané van Niekerk were awarded the highest honour at the Cricket South Africa Awards on Saturday.
Both Du Plessis and Van Niekerk were recognised in the company of the country’s cricketing elite when they were named South African Cricketer of the Year in their respective categories at a glittering Cricket South Africa (CSA) awards function in Pretoria on Saturday evening.
It was a first for the Proteas captain and a remarkable display of consistency at the top level by Van Niekerk who has won the award for three of the last four years. She was also honoured by her peers in being named SA Women’s Players’ Player of the Year.
The other 10 players to have received CSA’s most prestigious men’s award are Jacques Kallis (2004 and 2011), Makhaya Ntini (2005 and 2006), Hashim Amla (2010 and 2013), AB de Villiers (2014 and 2015) and Kagiso Rabada (2016 and 2018) who have all won the award twice with the other previous winners being Shaun Pollock (2007), Dale Steyn (2008), Graeme Smith (2009), Vernon Philander (2012) and Quinton de Kock (2017).
Du Plessis was the leading award winner on the night, also being named Standard Bank ODI Cricketer of the Year as well as being honoured by his peers in being named SA Players’ Player of the Year.
The other men’s awards were shared around. De Kock was named Standard Bank Test Cricketer of the Year and David Miller as Standard Bank T20 International Cricketer of the Year while Rabada was honoured by the fans on being named SA Fans Player of the Year. The CSA Delivery of the Year went to Vernon Philander for his dismissal of Azhar Ali of Pakistan in the 3rd Test match.
Dale Steyn was honoured with the KFC Streetwise Award for his achievement in becoming South Africa’s leading Test match wicket-taker and one of the top 10 on the all-time list.
The International Newcomer of the Year award went to Rassie van der Dussen who had the outstanding average of 73 and strike rate of 81 in ODIs and a strike rate of 133 in T20 Internationals in his debut season. These figures included an average of 62 and a strike rate of 90 in his maiden appearance at the ICC Cricket World Cup.
The other top awards in the women’s category went to Marizanne Kapp who was named ODI Player of the Year and Shabnim Ismail who was named T20 International Player of the Year. Tumi Sekhukhune was named International Women’s Newcomer of the Year.
“Faf and Dane have both had very good years both as contributors in their specific disciplines and also in the leadership qualities they bring to our two senior national sides,” commented CSA Chief Executive, Thabang Moroe.
“Both our Standard Bank Proteas and our Women’s Proteas are well ranked both as teams and individuals across the various formats. I must particularly highlight the Proteas’ first ever away ODI bilateral series win in Australia. It is quite remarkable that over the past few years Faf has led the Proteas to home and away ODI Series wins over Australia as well as our first ever home Test series win against the same opponents.
“Just how much Dané means to our women’s team became evident when she was ruled out of action for a considerable period of time through injury.
“It is also a very special moment for the CSA Family to honour our leading Test wicket-taker of all time, Dale Steyn, with the KFC Streetwise award. He has been a wonderful brand ambassador for both CSA and the Proteas for well over a decade and he has not only been a great leader of the Proteas attack but has also played a key role as mentor of the next generation.
“Our domestic cricket remains blessed with great talents and congratulations to all the winners in those categories as well.
“I warmly congratulate all our winners, both at international and domestic level, and I also wish to take this opportunity to acknowledge our umpires, grounds staff and scorers, too.”
Dane Piedt of the Cape Cobras and Bjorn Fortuin of the Highveld Lions were the big winners in the Professional Awards: Domestic category, both bagging two awards. Piedt was named Four-day Franchise Series Cricketer of the Year and also won the SACA Most Valuable Player award. Fortuin was named CSA T20 Challenge Player of the Year as well as Domestic Players’ Player of the season. The Lions had further success with Enoch Nkwe being named Pitchvision Coach of the Season.
Junior Dala of the Multiply Titans was named One-day Cup Cricketer of the Season while Sinethemba Qeshile of the Warriors was named Domestic Newcomer of the Year.
The inaugural Mzansi Super League awards went to Van der Dussen of the Jozi Stars as Mzansi Super League Impact Player of the Year and to Lutho Sipamla of the Tshwane Spartans as Mzansi Super League Young Player of the Year.
Shaun George was named CSA Umpire of the Year for the third year in a row and the CSA Umpires Umpire of the Yearwent to Bongani Jele.
The Africa Cup T20 Player of the tournament went to Marco Marais of Border.
AWARD WINNERS
PROFESSIONAL AWARDS: NATIONAL
SA Men’s Cricketer of the Year: Faf du Plessis
SA Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Dane van Niekerk
Standard Bank Test Cricketer of the Year: Quinton de Kock
Standard Bank ODI Cricketer of the Year: Faf du Plessis
Standard Bank T20 International Cricketer of the Year: David Miller
SA Players’ Player of the Year: Faf du Plessis
SA Fans’ Player of the Year: Kagiso Rabada
KFC Streetwise Award: Dale Steyn (SA’s leading Test wicket-taker of all-time)
CSA Delivery of the Year: Vernon Philander (dismissal of Azhar Ali, first innings, 3rd Test)
International Men’s Newcomer of the Year: Rassie van der Dussen
International Women’s Newcomer of the Year: Tumi Sekhukhune
SA Women’s Players’ Player of the Year: Dane van Niekerk
Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year:Marizanne Kapp
Women’s T20 Cricketer of the YearShabnim Ismail
PROFESSIONAL AWARDS: DOMESTIC
Four-day franchise Series Cricketer of the Season: Dane Piedt (World Sports Betting Cape Cobras)
Momentum One-Day Cup Cricketer of the Season: Junior Dala (Multiply Titans)
CSA T20 Challenge Player of the Season: Bjorn Fortuin (bizhub Highveld Lions)
Mzansi Super League Impact Player of the Year: Rassie van der Dussen (Jozi Stars)
Mzansi Super League Young Player of the Year: Lutho Sipamla (Nelson Mandela Bay Giants)
Pitchvision Coach of the Season: Enoch Nkwe (bizhub Highveld Lions)
Domestic Players’ Player of the Season: Bjorn Fortuin (bizhub Highveld Lions)
Domestic Newcomer of the Season:Sinethemba Qeshile (Warriors)
Africa T20 Cup Player of the Tournament:Marco Marais (Border)
SACA Most Valuable Player Award: Dane Piedt (World Sports Betting Cape Cobras)
PROFESSIONAL AWARDS: OPERATIONS
CSA Umpires’ Umpire of the Year: Bongani Jele
CSA Umpire of the Year: Shaun George
CSA Scorers Association of the Year: Gauteng Cricket Scorers Association
