Laura Wolvaardt, Marco Jansen among big winners at CSA Awards

Laura Wolvaardt and Marco Jansen were awarded the Women's and Men’s Player of the Year awards at the Cricket South Africa (CSA) Awards ceremony on Thursday (September 5). Wolvaardt, who was appointed the captain of the national team recently, also won four other awards: Women's T20 International Player of the Year, One-Day International Player of the Year, Players' Player of the Year and finally the Fans' Player of the Year.

The 25-year-old was the highest run-scorer for South Africa in the 2023-24 season in both white-ball formats. Three months ago, she registered her maiden Test hundred, scoring a valiant 122 in a lost cause against India. 

Jansen, meanwhile, has been an asset for the Proteas as a seam-bowling all-rounder. He has been South Africa’s highest-wicket taker in ODIs since 2023 (33) and snapped 17 scalps in the 2023 ODI World Cup where South Africa reached the semi-final. 

In other awards, Quinton de Kock was adjudged as the Men's ODI Player of the Year, courtesy of his fantastic World Cup campaign last year. The left-hander was the third-highest scorer of the tournament, amassing 594 runs with four hundreds in what was his last tournament in the format. 

Reeza Hendricks, South Africa’s highest run-scorer in T20Is since 2023 (627 runs), clinched the Men’s T20I Player of the Year award. Keshav Maharaj was voted as the Men's Players' Player of the Year by his teammates. David Bedingham made his international debut in the Boxing Day Test last year and won the International Men's Newcomer of the Year. Eliz-Mari Marx (seven ODIs and seven T20Is since December 2023) won the same award in the Women’s category.

Marizanne Kapp’s in-swinger that rattled Beth Mooney's stumps in the second ODI in North Sydney this year was awarded the Best Delivery by KFC award. 

The Makhaya Ntini Power of Cricket Award, which recognizes players who have risen above tough circumstances, went to Masabata Klaas. She is the first female cricketer to win it. Klaas made a storied comeback to cricket in 2015 after a three-year break due to motherhood and has also been mentoring the younger players since. 

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