Speed merchants Anrich Nortje and Shabnim Ismail win big at Cricket South Africa awards

Pacers Anrich Nortje and Shabnim Ismail got named as South Africa's men's and women's cricketer of the year respectively at the Cricket South Africa (CSA) awards that was held in Midrand on Friday, July 7. Notably, the recently retired Ismail won her third Player of the Year title while this was Nortje’s second win. Both these cricketers were phenomenal for South Africa in the past year and thus, deservingly claimed their place at the top of the table.

Notably, in the last T20 World Cup, Ismail picked up eight wickets in six matches and helped her team qualify for the finals of the competition but unfortunately, South Africa lost by 19 runs in Cape Town. On the other hand, Nortje has been a force to reckon with in all three formats of the game. Meanwhile, his long-time partner Kagiso Rabada has been adjudged as Test Player of the Year. 

Temba Bavuma has been chosen as ODI Player of the Year. This is likely to boost his confidence ahead of the upcoming ODI World Cup, which is slated to begin on October 5 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in India. Meanwhile, Reeza Hendricks, who has been absolutely phenomenal in the shortest format of the game for South Africa, has been adjudged as the T20 Player of the Year. Youngster Gerald Coetzee was awarded men's Newcomer of the Year.

When it comes to the women’s side, 23-year-old Nonkululeko Mlaba is named women's T20I player of the year while Laura Wolvaardt claimed the women's ODI player of the year award. Speaking about the winners, CSA Chief Executive Officer Pholetsi Moseki said that he is delighted to see so many strong performances in the last year and added saying that it was really difficult to pick one as the winner.

“On behalf of Cricket South Africa, I would like to congratulate all the winners on their awards. There were so many strong performances and outstanding candidates for awards over the past season; it really made the task of the judges exceptionally tough. We have seen a real improvement of all our national teams over the past season, the proof of which are in the results,” Pholetsi was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.