Parnell receives Sunfoil award

Cape Cobras all-rounder Wayne Parnell has been named Sunfoil Series Sizzler for the final five rounds of the competition.

Parnell was only able to play the final five rounds of matches mainly due to a foot injury he picked up in November last year.

Despite the setback, he made a stunning return to form to finish ninth on the overall averages list, scoring 337 runs at an average of 48.14, including an unbeaten century, and taking 23 wickets at 20.56, including one 10-wicket haul and three five-wicket hauls.

The Sunfoil Sizzler award is worth R15 000.

Parnell has established himself as the premier all-rounder in domestic cricket ahead of the Knights’ Werner Coetsee and the Lions’ Dwaine Pretorius.

The Titans, who claimed the Sunfoil Series title ahead of the Highveld Lions and and the Knights in what became a three-horse race, had three players in the top six for the award, Marchant de Lange (third), Heino Kuhn (fourth) and Dean Elgar (sixth). Cape Cobras spinner Dane Piedt finished in second place while the Dolphins’ Craig Alexander took fifth place.

‘Congratulations to Wayne on the award,’ commented Cricket South Africa general manager Corrie van Zyl. ‘He has been consistently outstanding with both bat and ball in the last five matches and this is just the form we want to see from our Proteas when they participate in our domestic cricket.

‘The shortage of quality all-rounders in our cricket has been a talking point since the retirement of Jacques Kallis and Wayne’s form has been significantly encouraging in this regard.’

The South African Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player index (Saca MVP) is used as the measuring tool in determining the Sunfoil Sizzler. 

The top six performers in the Sunfoil Series during the period under review (mid-December to late-January) were:

The Sunfoil Series Player of the Season will be named at the CSA Awards Ceremony later this year.

Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images