George shines once again as SA’s top umpire for second year
IT WAS a dry annual Cricket South Africa awards evening for Border cricket as the union was only able to walk away with one major award this past weekend as the ever dependable Shaun George was named Umpire of the Year for the second year running.
George, by far the best umpire to emerge from the Border region, has enjoyed another stellar year of officiating that has seen highlights such us umpiring the ICC Women’s World Cup final in England in July last year and the ICC U19 World Cup final in New Zealand in February.
He also received the massive honour of being elected to the Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires last month, which all would have added to his superb year and helped him pick up the coveted award once again.
“It is always exciting to pick up an award,” said George.
“It is just the culmination of a nice, successful allround season and it is always nice to be rewarded for some hard work and great performances at the end of the season.”
George is no stranger to the big occasion, with this being his third umpire of the year award, while he has also been named umpires umpire of the year four times, the last time in 2017, showing that his performances have been of the highest quality over a number of years.
“Consistency is very important, but also I think that as an individual you need to grow. You can’t stay at the same level because every year the competition gets stronger and stronger. So you have to raise the bar every year, and I probably raised the bar just a little bit higher than the rest of the guys,” said George.
“It is probably what I am going to have to do going forward, keep getting better every year and growing and developing my skills to another level so I can stay at the top of my game.”
George will now look forward to another big year, with his ICC appointment meaning he will be assigned to his first outbound tours, as well as a number of other exciting tournaments.
“I have been invited to officiate at the Caribbean Premier League in August which I have never been to before,” said George.
“I have also been nominated to get involved in the Asia Cup in September in Dubai.
“It is my first ICC appointment and outbound tour, so I am excited, nervous and just grateful for the opportunity and really looking forward to it.”
The only other Border members to receive awards were Sinethemba Qeshile and Marco Marais at the annual CSA Breakfast Awards in association with KFC on Saturday morning.
Qeshile was recognised for the Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Week Player of the Tournament award, which he received after the tournament in December last year, and Marais received a special award for setting the fastest 300 in professional cricket history after he achieved the feat off 191 balls against EP during the past campaign.
Other Eastern Cape cricket players and officials to receive awards over the two ceremonies include SA women and EP captain Dane van Niekerk (SA Women’s Cricketer of the Year), Warriors captain Jon-Jon Smuts (Saca Most Valuable Player Award), Warriors spinner Simon Harmer (Sunfoil Series Cricketer of the Season), EP’s Matthew Breetzke (Coca-Cola U19 Cricketer of the Year) and EP mini cricket coach Eunice Gonyela (KFC Mini-Cricket Coach of the Year),