Quinton de Kock Named South African Cricketer Of The Year

Quinton de Kock was named South Africa Men’s Cricketer of the Year during a virtual awards ceremony held on Saturday (July 4). The South Africa captain also bagged the Test Cricketer of the Year award. On the other hand, Laura Wolvaardt won both South Africa Women’s Cricketer of the Year and ODI Cricketer of the Year awards.

The wicketkeeper-batsman became only the sixth player to win the South African cricketer of the year award for the second time. Before him, 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) had won the award.

The other winners of the award over the years since it was instituted in 2004 are Shaun Pollock (2007), Dale Steyn (2008), Graeme Smith (2009), Vernon Philander (2012) and Faf du Plessis (2019).

Fast-bowler Lungi Ngidi bagged the best ODI Cricketer and T20I Cricketer of the Year awards. Pacer Anrich Nortje took home the award for the Men’s Newcomer of the Year.

“Quinny and Laura have set the highest standards that we expect from our icon Proteas players,” commented CSA’s acting chief executive Dr. Jacques Faul.

“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 as witnessed by the Proteas clean sweep of Australia in their recent ODI series.

“Laura was named in the tournament select XI at the conclusion of the ICC Women’s World T20 which tells us a great deal about the esteem in which she is held at international level. 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.

“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,” Dr. Faul added.

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