The KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union along with Hollywoodbets Dolphins and Proteas star Keshav Maharaj were the big winners at the recent KwaZulu-Natal Sports Awards held this past Friday evening.
KZN Cricket was a big winner taking home the prize for Sports Federation of the Year while the Hollywoodbets Dolphins side was recognised as the Team of the Year following the successful season which ended in two trophies and another final.
At the end of the previous season KZN Cricket was ranked as the number one affiliate according to Cricket South Africa’s Operational model.
The CSA Incentive Scorecard is based on a combination of Cricket Services, Finance & Admin and Governance.
It was the first time that the KZN Cricket Union ended at the top of the pile and the Union continued along that same line into the past season where the Hollywoodbets Dolphins, the flagship side for the Union, was consistently one of the best teams in the country.
The Dolphins were awarded the Team of the Year award beating DSTV Premiership runners-up AmaZulu after another red-letter season for cricket in the province.
It was a historic campaign for the Dolphins who won the CSA 4-Day Domestic Series convincingly and claimed the final red ball trophy of the franchise era but also shared the Momentum One Day Cup title with the Lions and then lost to the Lions in the T20 Challenge final.
One of the flagship awards is Sports Man and Sports Woman of the year and this year Hollywoodbets Dolphins all-rounder Keshav Maharaj was the announced as the winner of Sports Man of the Year.
Maharaj’s role at the Dolphins has been paramount to their success; however his role in the Proteas set-up has become crucial in recent years and his inclusion in the national side for all three formats shows how influential he is at a national level.
“We continue to strive to make KZN Cricket the number one cricketing brand in the country and to be recognised for all our efforts is very rewarding,” CEO of KZN Cricket Heinrich Strydom said.
“This award creates an expectation that we will continue to get better and strive to put cricket and cricket development at the forefront of everything that we do.
“Our mission as custodians of this beautiful game remains to leave it in a better space than what we found it in.”
