Brilliant Boult wins top award

Trent Boult has dethroned his skipper after nabbing the top gong at New Zealand Cricket’s annual awards night in Auckland.

The left-armer won the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for outstanding player of the year last night, ending Kane Williamson’s two-year hold on the award.

Fresh from taking 15 wickets in New Zealand’s drought-breaking test series win against England, including nine in the first test in Auckland, Boult was also named test player of the year.

The 28-year-old has had a menacing season with the ball, taking 77 wickets across all formats during the judging period.

He became the sixth New Zealand player to take 200 test wickets, and the sixth fastest player in the world to reach 100 ODI wickets.

Batsman Ross Taylor (ODI player of the year and first-class batting) and Sophie Devine (women’s ODI and Twenty20 player of the year) also won a couple of awards.

Taylor scored two centuries in the recent ODI series against England, including a brutal 181 not out in the fourth match in Dunedin, where he was dogged by a thigh injury but still powered his side past England’s 335-9 with three balls to spare. It was Taylor’s 19th ODI century, and helped him average 78 across the judging period.

Devine earned her two awards after averaging 55 in ODIS and 31 in T20s. She also took 15 wickets across both formats.

Colin Munro, who became the first to score three international T20 tons when he whacked the West Indies to all parts in Mount Maunganui in January, was named men’s T20 international player of the year. He averaged 57 at a whopping strike rate of 182 in the shortest form of the game.

Neil Wagner, having played a huge hand in New Zealand’s thrilling series-sealing draw against England in Christchurch on Tuesday, won the Winsor Cup for first-class bowling for a second consecutive year.

Pat Malcon (Northern Districts) received the Bert Sutcliffe Medal for outstanding services to cricket, having dedicated more than 20 years to the game.