Du Plessis, Van Niekerk big winners at CSA awards

TMG Digital

TELFORD VICE in London

THE was sweetness to soften the bitterness of the men’s World Cup for Faf du Plessis on Saturday, when he was named “SA Men’s Cricketer of the Year” at an awards ceremony in Pretoria.

Du Plessis, South Africa’s all-format captain, was his team’s only centurion and their top scorer at the World Cup in England from May to July.

But most of his players didn’t follow his lead, and South Africa lost five of their eight completed games in a campaign that had been derailed long before the semi-finals line-up was decided.

Du Plessis is the 11th winner of the most significant trophy at Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) annual awards.

Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Kagiso Rabada won it twice, and Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn, Graeme Smith, Vernon Philander and Quinton de Kock once.

Du Plessis’ female counterpart, Dané van Niekerk, was the “SA Women’s Cricketer of the Year”.

Van Niekerk won the award for the third time in the past four years, but it was Du Plessis’ first triumph.

He was also “ODI Cricketer of the Year” and “SA [Men’s] Players’ Player of the Year”, while Van Niekerk won the women’s version of the latter prize.

“Faf and Dane have both had very good years both as contributors in their specific disciplines and also in the leadership qualities they bring to our two senior national sides,” CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe was quoted as saying in a CSA release.

Dale Steyn was honoured for breaking Pollock’s record for Test wickets, and the “International Newcomer of the Year” was Rassie van der Dussen — who was among the few South Africans who had a successful World Cup.

Van der Dussen finished closely behind Du Plessis in average and runs terms and scored half-centuries in half of his six innings.

The inaugural “Mzansi Super League Impact Player of the Year” gong also went to Van der Dussen.

Shaun George completed a hat-trick of “CSA Umpire of the Year” awards.

Selected winners:

International:

SA Men’s Cricketer of the Year: Faf du Plessis

SA Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Dané van Niekerk

Test Cricketer of the Year: Quinton de Kock

ODI Cricketer of the Year: Faf du Plessis

T20 International Cricketer of the Year: David Miller

SA Players’ Player of the Year: Faf du Plessis

SA Fans’ Player of the Year: Kagiso Rabada

International Men’s Newcomer of the Year: Rassie van der Dussen

International Women’s Newcomer of the Year: Tumi Sekhukhune

SA Women’s Players’ Player of the Year: Dane van Niekerk

Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year: Marizanne Kapp

Women’s T20 Cricketer of the Year: Shabnim Ismail

Domestic:

Coach of the Season: Enoch Nkwe

Players’ Player of the Season: Bjorn Fortuin

Newcomer of the Season: Sinethemba Qeshile

South African Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player: Dane Piedt

George leads SA’s World Cup parade

Sunday Times

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TELFORD VICE in Manchester

NO South African has been on the field of play during a cricket World Cup final, right? Wrong. Three have, one of them three times.

They are Zama Ndamane, Brian Jerling and Shaun George, umpires all.

No South African umpire has yet stood in a men’s World Cup final, but all of the above have crossed the boundary in the women’s equivalent.

Ndamane was part of the all-South Africa officiating team in the 2005 final between Australia and India in Centurion — umpires, scorers, referee, the lot — and Jerling stood in 2009 when England and New Zealand clashed in Sydney.

But neither Ndamane nor Jerling have anything on George, who stood in the finals in 2005 and 2013 and completed a hat-trick of sorts when he was the sole South African on the field in the World Cup final between England and India at Lord’s on July 23.

George has done duty in 85 international matches. In 22 of them the players have been women. What’s the difference?

“The major difference is the pace of play,” George said. “Women’s matches are generally slower. However the skill levels regarding bowling and batting are generally the same.

“Looking back to the 2013 women’s World Cup in India, I am encouraged to see the development and tremendous growth in batting and bowling in women’s matches.

“However the ground fielding and catching needs improvement to be on par with the men’s game.”

There are other, more subtle points of departure in cricket’s gender divide.

“Because of the pace at which women bowl the tendency was that balls are rarely going to go over the top of the stumps [which is a factor in] answering lbw appeals.”

And, like they are behind the wheel of a car, where they pay less insurance than men, women are better behaved on the field: “Men have a tendency to challenge umpires’ decisions a lot more than women.”

George played 17 first-class matches between March 1987 and January 1991, all of them on the less than pristine grounds used for Howa Bowl games.

As much as he knows his way around women’s and men’s cricket, this year’s World Cup final marked George’s debut at Lord’s.

But he will always remember “walking through the Long Room with the members applauding you as you make your way to the field”.

For a third World Cup final, nogal.