Kagiso Rabada bags six awards, named South African Cricketer of the Year
Kagiso Rabada created history at the annual Cricket South Africa (CSA) award ceremony, by becoming the first cricketer to win six awards. In the process, he bettered the previous best haul which were jointly held by AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla, who had won five awards in one year.
The 21-year-old clean swept the three main awards of the night – Cricketer of the Year, Players’ Player of the Year and the Fans’ Player of the Year. Around 60,000 fans are said to have voted in the third category.
Rabada also bagged the Test Cricketer of the Year and the ODI Cricketer of the Year awards. Since making his Test debut against India last November, he has taken 24 wickets in just 6 matches at an impressive average of 24.70 in the longest format of the game. In ODIs, over the last year, he has 37 wickets to his name at an average of 21.45, going at an economy rate of below 5 (which is impressive by modern-day standards).
Good things happen to good people! What a man, what a player. Clean swipe by @KagisoRabada25 Well done KG pic.twitter.com/6NWY2Jdu8D
— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) July 26, 2016
Imran Tahir won the T20 Player of the Year award. Over the last year, the leg-spinner has taken 18 wickets in 11 matches, conceding less than 7 runs per over. He is currently ranked third in the ICC T20 Rankings for bowlers.
All-rounder Dane van Niekerk won the Women's Cricketer of the Year award. She is ranked 9th in the ICC Women’s ODI Rankings for bowlers and has spent time in the top 10 in both the batting and bowling rankings in T20 cricket.
Stephen Cook was named the International Newcomer of the Year. The 33-year-old scored a century against England in his debut Test earlier this year.
South African stalwarts de Villiers, Amla and Dale Steyn went empty-handed at the awards ceremony.
A total list of the big award winners:
Cricketer of the Year – Kagiso Rabada
Players' Player of the Year – Kagiso Rabada
Fans’ Player of the Year: Kagiso Rabada
Women's Cricketer of the Year – Dane van Niekerk
Test Cricketer of the Year – Kagiso Rabada
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Kagiso Rabada
T20 Player of the Year – Imran Tahir
T20 Delivery of the Year – Kagiso Rabada
International Newcomer of the Year – Stephen Cook
T20 Player of the Season – Albie Morkel