Quinton de Kock sweeps home top honours at the CSA Awards Gala

The South African wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock has been named the ‘South African Cricketer of the Year’ at the CSA Awards Gala hosted by Cricket South Africa on Sunday.

De Kock also swept home four other awards, which included the likes of Test Cricketer of the Year and the ODI cricketer of the year at the event last night. According to the votes of the public and his peers, the wicketkeeper was also named as the Player of the Year.

The 24-year-old also received a sixth award in the form of ICC Player of the year, which is not a local award as per the cricketing board. South African pace bowler Kagiso Rabada holds the record of bagging awards in the six separate categories at the Gala event last time around, which De Kock could not equal this year.

Imran Tahir bags home an award: 

The other winners at the Gala were the World no. 1 limited overs bowler Imran Tahir, who bagged the award for the best T20 International player of the year, for the second time in a row. Award of Excellence is a merit which is awarded to the player who had the best moment on the field in the past year, and it went to the newcomer Temba Bavuma for his run out of David Warner in the game against the visiting Australian side.

CSA additionally had noted down De Kock’s incredible statistics throughout the year, including his innings of 178 in an ODI against Australia in a series where his total tally of runs was 300 at an average of 60, with a strike rate of 137.

“His Test match performances were notable for his ability to score big runs when needed and to take the game away from the opposition. In addition, the quality of his glove work was brilliant,” CSA said while CSA Chief Executive, Haroon Lorgat commented “Simply outstanding! What a year Quinton has had.”

The Delivery of the year award went to Kagiso Rabada for his excellent delivery to the Australian batsman Usman Khawaja at Perth, while Sune Luus was named the South African Women’s Cricket of the Year. Keshav Maharaj of Indian origin won the International Newcomer of the year alongside Aura Wolvaardt of the women’s squad.

Haroon Lorgat congratulates all the winners: 

Haroon Lorgat further added “He (Quinton) has shown the maturity of a seasoned campaigner with performances that have really counted when needed most, often blowing away the opposition in the process.

“It is encouraging that for the second time in a row our premier award has gone to one of our young stars who are shining with distinction alongside our world-class senior players.

“The way the Proteas have come through to rise up the ICC rankings in meteoric fashion has been quite brilliant and we now have a real team in the true sense of the word,” Lorgat commended the way the Proteas performed the last year.

“I warmly congratulate all our winners, both at international and domestic level, and I also wish to take this opportunity to acknowledge our umpires, grounds staff and scorers, too.” concluded the CSA Chief Executive

Here is the list of Award winners:

SA Cricketer of the Year: Quinton de Kock
Standard Bank Test Cricketer of the Year: Quinton de Kock
Standard Bank ODI Cricketer of the Year: Quinton de Kock
Standard Bank T20 International Cricketer of the Year: Imran Tahir
SA Players’ Player of the Year: Quinton de Kock
SA Fans’ Player of the Year: Quinton de Kock
KFC Award of Excellence: Temba Bavuma
RAM Delivery of the Year: Kagiso Rabada
International Newcomer of the Year: Keshav Maharaj
Momentum women’s Cricketer of the Year: Sune Luus
Women’s Players Player of the Year: Lizelle Lee
Women’s Newcomer of the Year Laura Wolvaardt