Four 'Oscars' for Dale Steyn
2008-06-17 22:10
Johannesburg - Proteas and Nashua Titans fast bowler Dale Steyn swept the boards at the fifth Mutual & Federal SA Cricket Awards at the Sandton Convention Centre on Tuesday night.
Steyn won all four awards for which he was nominated including the prestigious Mutual & Federal SA Cricketer of the Year. He was also named Castle Test Cricketer of the Year, SA Players' Player of the Year and the SuperSport Fans' Cricketer of the Year.
The other major winners in the Professional SA Team section of the Mutual & Federal awards were Graeme Smith who was named Standard Bank One-Day International Cricketer of the Year and Albie Morkel of the Nashua Titans who was named Standard Bank International Pro20 Cricketer of the Year.
A feature of all the International award winners was the standard of excellence they achieved on the world stage. Steyn took 78 wickets in the 12 Tests the Castle squad played and at one stage was ranked No 1 bowler in the world on the Reliance Mobile ICC Test rankings before finishing the season at No 2. It still placed him well clear of any other fast bowler.
Graeme Smith finished the year as the No 1 batsman on the Reliance Mobile ICC ODI rankings and Albie Morkel was the second most successful all-rounder at the recently completed inaugural Indian Premier League that was a showpiece of virtually the entire world's Pro20 talent.
Impressive list
The Mutual & Federal SA Cricketer of the Year award has become the most prestigious reward of individual achievement in South African cricket and Steyn follows an impressive list of previous winners in Jacques Kallis (2004), Makhaya Ntini (2005 and 2006) and Shaun Pollock (2007). Both Kallis and Ntini were also multiple award winners.
Pollock in his final year of international cricket proved to be a wonderful brand ambassador for the Mutual & Federal awards and particularly for all the associated programmes they support.
Through the "Wishes for Wickets" and "Rands for Runs" sponsorship from Mutual & Federal, Shaun Pollock raised R91 800 during the past season with his performance on the cricket field, which will go to Reach for a Dream. The John Wesley School in Pinetown will receive a scoreboard and cricket mat, donated by Mutual & Federal on behalf of Shaun Pollock.
Unlike last year when Morne van Wyk of the Gestetner Diamond Eagles won three of the six Domestic Professional awards, this time there were six different individual winners with the Nashua Cape Cobras providing two of them in Charl Langeveldt who was named Standard Bank Pro20 Cricketer of the Year and Monde Zondeki, the SuperSport Series Cricketer of the Year.
Juan "Rusty" Theron was named MTN Domestic Championship Cricketer of the Year while the other award winners were: Johann Louw of the Nashua Dolphins (Saca Most Valuable Player award), Roelof van der Merwe of the Nashua Titans (Domestic Newcomer of the Year) and Dillon du Preez of the Gestetner Diamond Eagles (Domestic Players' Player of the Year).
In the operations category Brian Jerling was named Mutual & Federal Umpire of the Year, and Corrie van Zyl of the Gestetner Diamond Eagles the Mutual & Federal Coach of the Year, both winning their second Mutual & Federal Awards, while the Gauteng Scorers' Association won the Mutual & Federal Scorers' Association of the Year award for the fourth time.
The two big winners in the amateur section were Wayne Parnell of Eastern Province and Nathan Arthur of Griqualand West who both claimed two prizes - Parnell in the Under-19 section and Arthur in the Club Championships and the prestigious Khaya Majola Amateur award.
The full list of award winners:
AMATEUR AWARDS:
PG Bison U15 Player of the Tournament: Johann van der Merwe (Gauteng)
U17 Player of the Tournament: Bokang Mosena (Free State)
Coca-Cola Khaya Majola U19 Player of the Tournament: Wayne Parnell (Eastern Province)
CSA U19 Cricketer of the Year: Wayne Parnell (Eastern Province)
Student Cricketer of the Year: Chad Baxter (NMMU/Eastern Province)
Club Championships Player of the Tournament: Nathan Arthur (Burma Lads/Griqualand West)
Rural Cricketer of the Year: Jaco O'Kelly (Gauteng)
Deaf Cricketer of the Year: Stephen Lombard (Northerns)
Intellectually Impaired Cricketer of the Year: Lee Benting (Boland)
SAA Provincial Amateur Cricketer of the Year: Wendell Bossenger (Griqualand West)
CSA Women's Cricketer of the Year: Cri-Zelda Brits (North West)
Khaya Majola Amateur Cricket Award: Nathan Arthur (Burma Lads/Griqualand West)
Bakers' Mini Cricket Administrator of the Year: Helene van der Riet (Griqualand West)
PROFESSIONAL AWARDS
Mutual & Federal Coach of the Year: Corrie van Zyl (Gestetner Diamond Eagles)
Mutual & Federal Scorers Association of the Year: Gauteng
Mutual & Federal Umpire of the Year: Brian Jerling
DOMESTIC Saca Most Valuable Player: Johann Louw (Nashua Dolphins)
MTN Domestic Championship Cricketer of the Year: Juan Theron (Chevrolet Warriors)
Standard Bank Pro20 Cricketer of the Year: Charl Langeveldt (Nashua Cape Cobras)
SuperSport Series Cricketer of the Year: Monde Zondeki (Nashua Cape Cobras)
Domestic Newcomer of the Year: Roelof van der Merwe (Nashua Titans)
Domestic Players' Player of the year: Dillon du Preez (Gestetner Diamond Eagles)
SA INTERNATIONAL
Standard Bank ODI Cricketer of the Year: Graeme Smith
Standard Bank International Pro20 Cricketer of the Year: Albie Morkel
Castle Test Cricketer of the Year: Dale Steyn
SA Players' Player of the Year: Dale Steyn
SuperSport Fans Cricketer of the Year: Dale Steyn
Mutual & Federal SA Cricketer of the Year: Dale Steyn
- SAPA