• AB, Amla up for top award

    AB de Villiers will again be the favourite to win the SA Cricketer of the Year award when the CSA awards are held on 3 June in Johannesburg.

    The nominees for the CSA awards, which will be held at the Gallagher Estate in Midrand, was announced by Cricket South Africa on Monday.

    The evening will form part of CSA Day, which will see a breakfast awards event in the morning, honouring those who excelled on the amateur front, as well as a golf day featuring key stakeholders, sponsors and Protea players.

    Last year’s CSA Cricketer of the Year, De Villiers, is once again a nominee for the award, along with Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Faf du Plessis.

    Convener of the judging panel, Aslam Khota, highlighted the closeness in determining the nominees for the various categories.

    ‘We really had a tough time in reaching the shortlisted nominees,’ said Khota. ‘We were blessed with excellent and consistence performances on both the domestic and international front and this created healthy debate amongst the panel as we finalised the shortlist.’

    The judging panel for this seasons awards comprised of Aslam Khota (Convener), HD Ackerman, Victor Mpitsang, Neil Manthorp, Makhaya Ntini and Andrew Samson (statistician).

    The Fans Cricketer of the Year and the Ram Delivery of the Season are both awards in which fans can participate. As of Monday, for the Fans Cricketer of the Year, fans can SMS the name of their player to 45732.

    For the Ram Delivery of the Season, fans can check out either CSA’s Facebook or YouTube pages and watch the insert. You can then vote for your favourite delivery by sending an SMS with the letter A, B or C to 45732. There will be a draw for two lucky fans to attend the CSA Awards and be part of the presentation.

    The event will be televised live on SuperSport 2 from 20:00.

    Selected List of Awards and Nominations:

    Momentum One-Day Cup Cricketer of the Season: Andrew Puttick (Nashua Cape Cobras), Dean Elgar (The Unlimited Titans), Robin Peterson (Nashua Cape Cobras)

    RAM Slammer of the Season: Kieron Pollard (Nashua Cape Cobras), Eddie Leie (bizhub Highveld Lions), Richard Levi (Nashua Cape Cobras)

    Sunfoil Series Cricketer of the Season: Hardus Viljoen (bizhub Highveld Lions), Kagiso Rabada (bizhub Highveld Lions), Stephen Cook (bizhub Highveld Lions), Dane Paterson (Nashua Cape Cobras)

    CSA Coach of the Season: Rob Walter (The Unlimited Titans), Geoffrey Toyana (bizhub Highveld Lions), Paul Adams (Nashua Cape Cobras)

    Domestic Newcomer of the Season: Theunis de Bruyn (The Unlimited Titans), Kagiso Rabada (bizhub Highveld Lions), George Linde (Nashua Cape Cobras)

    Ticketpro International T20 Cricketer of the Year: David Wiese, Faf du Plessis, Morne van Wyk

    Castle Lager ODI Cricketer of the Year: Hashim Amla, Morne Morkel, AB de Villiers, Imran Tahir

    Castle Lager Test Cricketer of the Year: Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn

    Momentum Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Shabnim Ismail, Marizanne Kapp, Dane van Niekerk

    SA Cricketer of the Year: Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn