Following an exceptional season for the Hollywoodbets Dolphins, the side dominated the domestic awards at Monday’s CSA Awards while Hollywoodbets KZN Coastal Women’s seamer Shabnim Ismail dominated the national women’s awards.
Dolphins players walked away with five of the eight domestic awards on offer while Ismail received three awards for her efforts over the past season for the Momentum Proteas.
The domination of the domestic awards underscored a successful season that saw the Dolphins as consistent pacesetters and claiming two trophies.
Coach Imraan Khan’s efforts were recognised with his Pitchvision Coach of the Year Award while Dolphins seamer Ottniel Baartman was awarded the Makhaya Ntini Power of Cricket Award for his commitment to the sport.
The big winner for the Dolphins was Keshav Maharaj. The left-arm spinner was a crucial part of the Dolphins success over the past season and finished the night with arguably the two most important domestic awards.
Maharaj was voted as the Domestic Players’ Player of the Year and won the SACA Most Valuable Player of the Year.
The Players’ Player was voted for by his peers showing the respect that he has gained over the years while the SACA MVP award was calculated using a points system.
Recently retired Rob Frylinck ended his career on a high note when he won the Momentum One Day Cup Player of the Year award.
From a national perspective Ismail showed her value to the national women’s side in their recent series against Pakistan and India. She also became the first recipient of the ICC Women’s Player of the Month on January.
Ismail’s efforts saw her walk away with the Momentum Proteas T20 Cricketer of the Year award and more importantly the SA Women’s Cricketer of the Year award and the SA Women’s Players Player of the Year award.
KZN-based umpire Lubabalo Gcuma was named as the CSA Umpire’s Umpire of the Year.
For CEO of KZN Cricket Heinrich Strydom, having this many awards across the board is a positive way to close the past season.
“When the team performs well there will be players that receive individual recognition and these awards are an example of that,” Strydom said.
“We are incredibly proud of our Hollywoodbets Dolphins players that have been recognised for all the hard work that they have put in both on and off the field.
“To see Shabnim walk away with two of the most important awards shows how important she is to our national team and we hope that she can keep on putting in match-winning performances.
“Having one of our local umpires acknowledged by his peers as the umpire of the year is also a proud moment for KZN Cricket and we wish Babs (Lubabalo Gcuma) all the best going forward.”
