Jensen, Rippon recipients of top honours at Otago awards
CRICKET
THEY can bat, they can bowl and now they have the trophy to prove it.
Allrounders Hayley Jensen and Michael Rippon scooped the major prizes at the Otago Cricket Awards last night.
Jensen was named Sparks cricketer of the year after a tremendous season.
The 27yearold transferred from Canterbury to help rejuvenate her career and it proved to be an inspired move.
The righthander helped the
Sparks reach the playoffs of the twenty20 competition.
She chipped in with 174 runs at a strike rate of 100 and also picked up seven wickets.
Jensen was Otago’s leading scorer in the oneday tournament with 233 runs at an average of 58.25 and grabbed eight wickets at an average of 15.75.
Rippon, who was named Volts player of the year and Plunket Shield player of the year, edged closer to his dream of playing cricket for New Zealand following an excellent season.
The 28yearold was Otago’s leading runscorer in the firstclass tournament. He amassed 364 runs at an impressive average of 72.80 and also claimed 12 wickets at 23.33.
He was also one of Otago’s bestperformed players in the oneday tournament and got through some tidy spells in the twenty20 competition.
Suzie Bates was among the night’s other big winners. She was named batswoman of the year.
Emma Black picked up the bowling award and Bella James was named fielder of the year.
The new perseverance and resilience award went to Caitlin Blakely and Sophie Oldershaw.
Blakely is closing in on 100 games for the Sparks across both formats and Oldershaw claimed her maiden fivewicket bag this season.
Volts captain Jacob Duffy collected the Volts bowler of the year title and was named most valuable player.
The 26yearold was perhaps unlucky not to pick up the main award.
Duffy was the leading wickettaker in the Plunket Shield (22 wickets at 22.86) and was the secondleading wickettaker in the oneday tournament (21 wickets at 19.19).
He also picked up 11 wickets in the twenty20 competition and pound for pound was the best bowler on the domestic circuit last summer.
Dean Foxcroft, who is stranded in South Africa, unable to return because of the border restrictions, was named batsman of the year and rising star.
The 22yearold South African scored 406 runs at an average of 50.75 in the oneday competition and 269 at 67.25 in the twenty20 tournament.
The rightarmer spinner also nabbed 22 wickets across all three formats.
Lefthander Nick Kelly was named twenty20 player of the year, while Neil Broom was named oneday player of the year.
The award for outstanding individual performance went to Hamish Rutherford. He clobbered 155 off 104 balls against Central Districts during a oneday game. He swatted 19 fours and seven sixes that day.