Philander named SA’S cricketer of the year

VERNON Philander completed a fairy-tale debut year of Test cricket when he was named the South African Cricketer of the Year and Test Cricketer of the Year at Cricket South Africa's (CSA) awards banquet at the Sandton Convention Centre last night.

His national popularity was confirmed when he also won a third award – the CSA Fans’ Cricketer of the Year.

By being named South African Cricketer of the Year, the 26-yearold joins the elite company of Jacques Kallis (twice), Makhaya Ntini (twice), Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn, Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla, who are previous winners of South Africa’s most prestigious cricketing award.

There were two dual international winners: AB de Villiers, who was named One-Day International Cricketer of the Year and SA Players’ Player of the Year, and Richard Levi, who was named CSA International T20 Cricketer of the Year and won the KFC “So Good” Award for his world-record century against New Zealand in the same format.

The other international award went to Marchant de Lange, who took 7-81 on his Test match debut against Sri Lanka and bowled a memorable final over to take 2-2 and clinch the T20 series against New Zealand.

In the domestic professional category the three main awards went to Dean Elgar (CSA 1-Day Cup Cricketer of the Year), Farhaan Behardien (MiWay T20 Cricketer of the Year) and Alviro Petersen (SuperSport Series Cricketer of the Year).

Matthew Maynard, who guided the Titans to two titles in his debut season, was named CSA Coach of the Year, while Morne van Wyk and Faf du Plessis were recognised by their peers, being named South African Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player and Domestic Players’ Player of the Year, respectively.

CSA acting chief executive Jacques Faul congratulated the winners as well as those who made the list of nominees.

“The performances of our cricketers remain at an all-time high,” he said. “You only have to look at the number of our Proteas who have held the No 1 position on theofficial ICC rankings list for the past 12 months.

“This list includes Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn and Lonwabo Tsotsobe. Nowhere is this excellence better recorded than in the brilliance of Vernon Philander.” – Sapa