South Africa national cricket team captain Quinton de Kock scooped South Africa men’s cricketer of the year award at an awards ceremony on Saturday.
The Cricket South Africa (CSA) awards ceremony was held virtually due to restrictions arising from the ongoing COVID-9 pandemic.
This was the second time that de Kock had won the award (first in 2007) becoming only the sixth man to claim it. AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, Kagiso Rabada and Makhaya Ntini are the only other players to have won the award twice.
De Kock also won the men’s players’ player of the year and Test cricketer of the year awards.
De Kock, who was named captain of South Africa’s ODI team in January, had a great year despite South Africa’s struggles on the field. He was the Proteas’ second-highest run-scorer, highest run-scorer in the ODIs and T20Is against England, and the T20I series against Australia.
“Quinny is the leading wicketkeeper-batsman in Test cricket and is, in fact, one of the leading batsmen in both red ball and white-ball cricket. He is also starting to emerge as an outstanding leader,” CSA Acting CEO Dr Jacques Faul said.
Laura Wolvaardt, meanwhile, was named women’s cricketer of the year, becoming the youngest woman to bag the award.
Wolvaardt, like de Kock also claimed two other awards: the women’s players’ player of the year and ODI cricketer of the year awards.
Wolvaardt was South Africa’s second-highest run-scorer in ODIs against India and New Zealand and performed well at the T20 World Cup in Australia.
“At the age of 21, her best years are ahead of her and she will be a key player when the Momentum Proteas go to the ICC Women’s World Cup next year,” Faul said.
Elsewhere, Lungi Ngidi won both the Men’s ODI Cricketer and T20I Cricketer of the Year awards while Anrich Nortje took home the men’s Newcomer of the Year award.
Shabnim Ismail won the Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year award and Nonkululeko Mlaba scoped the Women’s Newcomer of the Year title.
Faul expressed his pleasure at the fact that a number of young stars were rising through the ranks of the Proteas squad.
“It is good to see the number of young players starting to dominate at international level as we move into a new era following the retirement of some of the game’s legends. Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi have ensured that our fast bowling stocks remain among the best in the world.”
