Faf du Plessis and Dane van Niekerk were named South African Cricketer of the Year in the men’s and women’s categories respectively at a glittering Cricket South Africa (CSA) awards function in Pretoria on Saturday (August 3) evening.
The South African skipper was receiving the award for the first time in recognition of his remarkable display of consistency at the top level while Van Niekerk has won the award for three of the last four years. She was also honoured by her peers in being named SA Women’s Players’ Player of the Year.
The other 10 players to have received CSA’s most prestigious men’s award are 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) who have all won the award twice with the other previous winners being Shaun Pollock (2007), Dale Steyn (2008), Graeme Smith (2009), Vernon Philander (2012) and Quinton de Kock (2017).
The other men’s awards were shared around. Wicketkeeper-batsman de Kock was named Test Cricketer of the Year and David Miller as T20 International Cricketer of the Year while Rabada was honoured by the fans on being named SA Fans Player of the Year.
