Photo Credit: Gallo Images /Dolphins Cricket
Cricket South Africa announced the nominations for their annual awards ceremony and KwaZulu-Natal Cricket have a number of players nominated in the various categories for the awards on 14 August.
From a Hollywoodbets Dolphins perspective seamer Ottniel Baartman has been nominated in the T20 Knock-out Competition Player of the Tournament category along with his fellow seamer Daryn Dupavillon.
Newly recruited Tshepang Dithole has been recognised in the Division 2 4-Day Domestic Series Player of the Tournament category following a strong season with the KZN Inland Tuskers.
It is in the national categories that KZN Cricket shines with ten nominations across the women’s and men’s categories.
It’s seamer Shabnim Ismail who is the stand-out KZN player from a women’s perspective with three award nominations. She’s been recognised in the Momentum Proteas ODI Player of the year category as well as the Momentum Proteas Women’s Player of the Year category.
She backs that up with a nomination in the Best Delivery of the Year, fuelled by KFC category for her delivery to Hayley Matthews of the West Indies.
Another KZN Cricket star selected in the Delivery of the Year category is Keshav Maharaj. His delivery to Daryl Mitchell of New Zealand has been nominated – and Maharaj has been included in a number of other award divisions.
The left-arm spinner who has become a crucial part of the Proteas side in all three formats of the game has been nominated in three other categories.
ODI Player of the Year, Test Player of the Year and SA Men’s Players Player of the Year are the other categories that Maharaj has been nominated in.
Proteas newcomers SJ Erwee and Keagan Petersen have both been nominated in the International Men’s Newcomer of the Year category while Petersen has doubled up with a shout in the Test Player of the Year category too after a breakdown season in red ball cricket for the Proteas.
In the other award categories, Lindeni Rosemary Mkhize has been nominated in the KFC Mini-Cricket Bucket Loads of Good Award category.
Mathula Dlamini has been nominated in the CSA Blind Cricket Player of the Year category while Jesse Smit has been nominated for the T20 Community Cup Player of the Tournament award.
“To see players and administrators from KZN being nominated across the board is hugely encouraging and satisfying at the same time,” CEO of KZN Cricket Heinrich Strydom said.
“There has been a lot of hard work done behind the scenes across the KZN Cricket spectrum and to see people being nominated for awards shows that the hard work is paying off.
“We continue to move in the right direction as a Union and we want to continue that heading into the new season.”
