Ace bowler Boults in to snare top awards
Strike weapon in superb form throughout
Trent Boult won the two major honours at the New Zealand Cricket awards in Auckland last night. Boult was named as the test player of the year and claimed the supreme award, the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for player of the year.
It was first time Boult had won both awards, recognising his superb form throughout the 2017-2018 season.
The 28-year-old took 77 wickets across all formats, including 25 scalps at 20.9 in the test arena. His prolific production saw him become the sixth New Zealander to take 200 test wickets, and was the sixth fastest from any country to bring up 100 ODI wickets.
Boult played down his achievements during an interview at the awards.
“It’s not about the medals at the end of the year. It’s about helping the team and getting them into a winning position,” he said. “It’s a tremendous feeling. I’m a little bit lost for words. It has been a great year. I’ve definitely loved my cricket.”
Boult was also named in the ICC Men’s ODI Team of 2017, but was pipped for the New Zealand ODI player of the year by Ross Taylor.
Taylor claimed the award for the third time, having averaged 78 over the last year, capped off by his matchwinning unbeaten 181 against England last month.
Taylor also received the Redpath Cup for first-class batting.
Also doing the double was Sophie Devine, who won the women’s ODI and Twenty20 player of the year awards. Devine averaged 55 with the bat in ODIs and 31 in T20s, while also taking 15 wickets across the two formats.
The similarly big-hitting Colin Munro was named as the men’s Twenty20 player of the year, after a season where he averaged 52 at a blistering strike rate of 182. Munro smoked two centuries in the past year, becoming the first player to reach three tons in the format.
Neil Wagner won the Winsor Cup for first class bowling for the second year in a row, while Anton Devcich was named as the Super Smash player of the year after leading Northern Districts to their first title since the 2013-2014 season.
The women’s domestic awards were swept by Auckland, with Maddy Green claiming the Ruth Martin Cup for batting, while Holly Huddleston won the Phyl Blackler Cup for bowling.
Northern Districts’ Pat Malcon received the Bert Sutcliffe Medal for outstanding services to cricket, having dedicated more than 20 years to the game.