Pretoria: Faf du Plessis and Dane van Niekerk, the captains of the men’s and women’s national teams, have been named ‘South African Cricketer of the Year’ in their respective categories at the Cricket South Africa (CSA) awards function held here on Saturday.
Du Plessis became the 11th player to win the award, joining an elite list, which also comprises former captains Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers, all-rounders Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis, and fast bowlers Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn.He received the honour alongside being named ODI Cricketer of the Year and SA Players’ Player of the Year, to lead the award-winning list.While wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock was named the Test Cricketer of the Year, David Miller, the middle-order batsman, won the T20 International Cricketer of the Year award.Kagiso Rabada was honoured by the fans, being named the SA Fans Player of the Year. Rassie Van der Dussen, who has averaged 73.77 in ODIs and 36.14 in T20Is since making his international debut in October last year, has been named the International Newcomer of the Year.
The CSA Delivery of the Year went to Vernon Philander for his dismissal of Pakistan’s Azhar Ali, during the third and final Test of the home series, played at Wanderers in January 2019.
Dale Steyn was honoured with the Streetwise Award. Steyn currently has 439 Test wickets and is eighth on the all-time list. (UNI)
