Top awards for Nortje and Ismail

SIX years after winning the title, Shabnim Ismail’s continued value to South African cricket was underlined yesterday as she became just the third woman to be awarded the Cricketer of the Year crown twice.

At 32, Ismail shows no signs of slowing down and remains a crucial part of the Proteas team ahead of a period in which the side will be firmly under the microscope, with World Cups in both limited overs format, that includes the T20 World Cup being hosted in this country.

She joins current proteas captain Dane van Niekerk and Marizanne Kapp as the only women to have won the coveted award twice.

Ismail scooped three awards at Cricket SA’s national prize-giving ceremony which, like last year, was hosted online due to Covid-19. Ismail was named Momentum T20 Player of the Season and the SA Women’s Team’s Players’ Player of the season.

Although the summer was impacted by the pandemic, CSA managed to get a pair of home series played against Pakistan in Durban, while the women Proteas also had a successful tour to India, winning a T20 and ODI series there.

On the men’s side, Anrich Nortje saw off Aiden Markram for the Men’s Cricketer of the Year title. Nortje’s outstanding form across formats gave him the edge over Markram, who despite an excellent Test summer, was still inconsistent in the limited overs formats.

Nortje was South Africa’s best bowler, claiming five-wicket hauls in Johannesburg against Sri Lanka and then in less friendly conditions against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.

A sign of how superbly Nortje and Markram played was that their teammates couldn’t separate the pair in the Players’ Player of the Year category, which they shared.