Faf du Plessis and Dane van Niekerk were named South African Cricketer of the Year in the men’s and women’s categories respectively at a glittering Cricket South Africa (CSA) awards function in Pretoria on Saturday (August 3) evening.
The South African skipper was receiving the award for the first time in recognition of his remarkable display of consistency at the top level while Van Niekerk 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 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. Wicketkeeper-batsman de Kock was named Test Cricketer of the Year and David Miller as 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 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 averages 73 and had a 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 50-over World Cup earlier this year.
The other top awards in the women’s category went to Marizanne Kapp, who was named ODI Player of the Year and Shabnim Ismail, the 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 was quoted as saying by the CSA.
“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 Dane 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.
