Quinton de Kock was named South African ‘Cricketer-of-the-Year’ at a gala event hosted by Cricket South Africa (CSA) here on Saturday.
de Kock also won four other awards, including ‘Test Cricketer-of-the-Year’ and ‘ODI Cricketer-of-the-Year’, at the event. He was also named ‘Player-of-the-Year’ by both his peers and fans in a public vote.
Although de Kock received a sixth award for being named the ‘ICC ODI Cricketer-of-the-Year’, this was not a local award, so it technically prevented him from equalling the record set by newcomer Kagiso Rabada at last year’s awards when the latter bagged a record six categories.
The only accolades that de Kock did not win were the ‘T20 International Player-of-the-Year’ award that went to Imran Tahir for the second year in a row and the Award of Excellence that went to Temba Bavuma, again for the second successive year, for his brilliant run-out of David Warner in a game against Australia. de Kock was largely speechless as he accepted the award, merely thanking his teammates for the spirit that augured well for the ICC Champions Trophy next month.
Rabada’s only award this year was for the ‘Delivery-of-the-Year’ for his delivery that bowled Usman Khawaja at Perth. “Simply outstanding! What a year Quinton has had,” commented CSA Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat.
“He 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 added.
