Quinton de Kock named South Africa’s Mens cricketer of the year
South Africa’s limited-overs skipper Quinton de Kock, on Saturday, was rewarded for his stand-out 2019 and was named the Men’s Cricketer of the year by Cricket South Africa. While Lungi Ngidi was named the ODI cricketer of the year, Laura Wolvaardt won the Women’s Cricketer of the year award.
The South African Men’s cricket side had a forgettable 2019, as they crashed out of the World Cup in the first round and also were whitewashed by Sri Lanka and India, home and away, but one of the shining lights for them in the said calendar year was Quinton de Kock. The wicket-keeper batsman, despite the turmoil around him, continued to be the side’s stand-out performer and his consistency also saw him be elevated to ODI and T20I captaincy after Faf du Plessis relinquished his position.
De Kock, across formats, last year, scored a remarkable 1631 runs at an average close to 50 and, as a reward for his immaculate performances, the 27-year-old was named South Africa’s Men’s Cricket of the Year 2019, in the South African Cricket awards that took place on Saturday. But that was not the only award the southpaw bagged, as the wicket-keeper was also named the Test cricketer of the year. Incidentally, de Kock became just the sixth South African, after Makhaya Ntini, Kagiso Rabada, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis, to win the ‘Men’s Cricketer of the Year’ award more than once.
Meanwhile, while young Laura Wolvaardt took home both the ‘Women’s Cricketer of the Year’ and ‘Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year’ awards, it was Lungi Ngidi who won the Men’s ODI and T20I cricketer of the year awards. Tearaway quick Anrich Nortje, who made his Test debut against India last year, was named the Men's Newcomer of the Year. Shabnim Ismail and Nonkululeko Mlaba, meanwhile, took home the Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year and Women’s Newcomer of the Year awards respectively.
"Quinny and Laura have set the highest standards that we expect from our icon Proteas players. 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," said CSA's acting chief executive Dr. Jacques Faul, reported Cricbuzz.
"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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