Ken Borland

Spin bowler Keshav Maharaj was acknowledged as being at the heart of the Proteas team in all formats as he was named the 2021/22 SA Men’s Cricketer of the Year at Cricket South Africa’s virtual awards on Sunday evening.

Seamer Ayabonga Khaka claimed the SA Women’s Cricketer of the Year award, and both her and Maharaj were voted by their team-mates as the Players’ Player of the Year.

In the year’s action up to the end of the Test series against Bangladesh on April 11, Maharaj shone with the ball in all three formats. In eight Tests, the left-arm spinner took 30 wickets at an average of just 18.20; in 14 ODIs, he claimed 18 wickets at 31.77 and an economy rate of only 4.61, while he conceded just 5.84 runs per over in eight T20s, also taking six wickets while captaining the side on occasion.

Khaka has become an extremely consistent member of the effective Proteas Women’s attack, especially in ODIs, where she took 28 wickets in 15 matches.

Kagiso Rabada was named the Test Player of the Year, Aiden Markram the T20 International Player of the Year,and Janneman Malan was One-Day International Player of the Year.

Marco Jansen was named the International Newcomer of the Year, while other notable winners from the women’s categories were Lizelle Lee (T20 International Player of the Year)and Laura Wolvaardt (One-Day International Player of the Year).

Central Gauteng Lions paceman Sisanda Magala will continue to remind the national selectors of his abilities as he was the biggest winner on the domestic front, claiming the One-Day Cup Player of the Season, Domestic Players’ Player of the Season, and the SACA Most Valuable Player Award.

Mandla Mashimbyi of the Titans will go into the new season basking in the glow of his Coach of the Year award, while SuperSport Park’s Bryan Bloy was named Groundsman of the Year.

CSA AWARD WINNERS 2021/22

AMATEUR AWARDS

1. KFC MINI-CRICKET COACH OF THE YEAR – Jerry Thulo(CGL)
2. KFC MINI-CRICKET BUCKET LOADS OF GOOD AWARD – Joseph Ngqasa (Kei)
3. CSA BOYS U16 PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT – Riley Norton (Boland)
4. CSA GIRLS U16 PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT – Mpumelelo Mashiloane (Easterns)
5. CSA GIRLS U19 PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT – Elandri Janse van Rensburg (NW)
6. KHAYA MAJOLA CRICKET WEEK PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT – Ronan Hermann (CGL)
7. CSA U19 PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Dewald Brevis (Titans)
8. CSA BLIND CRICKET PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Buhle Bhidla (CGL)
9. CSA DEAF CRICKET PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Arthur McGee (Titans)
10. CSA RURAL CRICKET PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Nathan Engelbrecht (Boland)
11. T20 COMMUNITY CUP PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT – Nathan Engelbrecht (Boland)
12. CSA STUDENT PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Donovan Ferreira (Tuks)
13. WOMEN’S PROVINCIAL COACH OF THE YEAR – Wynand Schmitt (NW)
14. KEMACH EQUIPMENT GROUNDSMAN OF THE YEAR – Bryan Bloy – SuperSport Park, Centurion
15. CSA FAIRPLAY AWARD – EP Warriors
16. CSA WOMEN’S PROVINCIAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Tazmin Brits (NW)

PROFESSIONAL AWARDS – DOMESTIC

1. CSA UMPIRES’ UMPIRE OF THE YEAR – Allahudien Paleker
2. CSA UMPIRE OF THE YEAR – Allahudien Paleker
3. DOMESTIC NEWCOMER OF THE SEASON – Mitchell van Buuren (CGL)
4. SACA MOST VALUABLE PLAYER AWARD – Sisanda Magala (CGL)
5. DIVISION 1 COACH OF THE SEASON – Mandla Mashimbyi (Titans)
6. DIVISION 2 COACH OF THE SEASON – Mark Charlton (NC)
7. T20 KNOCK OUT COMPETITION PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT – Rilee Rossouw (FS Knights)
8. T20 CHALLENGE PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Pieter Malan (Boland Rocks)
9. DIVISION 1 4-DAY DOMESTIC SERIES PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Ryan Rickelton (CGL)
10. DIVISION 2 4-DAY DOMESTIC SERIES PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Thomas Kaber (Border Iinyathi)
11. DIVISION 1 ONE-DAY CUP PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Sisanda Magala (CGL)
12. DIVISION 2 ONE-DAY CUP PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Michael Erlank (KZN Inland Tuskers)
13. DOMESTIC PLAYERS’ PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Sisanda Magala (CGL)

PROFESSIONAL AWARDS  – NATIONAL

GENERAL CATEGORIES

14. THE BEST DELIVERY FUELLED BY KFC – Simon Harmer to Najmul Hossain Shanto (Bangladesh)
15. MAKHAYA NTINI POWER OF CRICKET AWARD – Nonkululeko Mlaba
16. SA FANS’ PLAYER OF THE YEAR – David Miller

MEN’S CATEGORIES

17. INTERNATIONAL MEN’S NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR – Marco Jansen
18. T20 INTERNATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Aiden Markram
19. ONE-DAY INTERNATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Janneman Malan
20. TEST PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Kagiso Rabada
21. SA MEN’S PLAYERS’ PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Keshav Maharaj
22. SA MEN’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Keshav Maharaj

WOMEN’S CATEGORIES

23. MOMENTUM WOMEN’S T20 INTERNATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Lizelle Lee
24. MOMENTUM WOMEN’S ONE-DAY INTERNATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Laura Wolvaardt
25. SA WOMEN’S PLAYERS PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Ayabonga Khaka
26. SA WOMEN’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Ayabonga Khaka

SUN CITY, North-West (13 October) – Ockie Strydom is the owner of 37 top-10 finishes on the Sunshine Tour and was the runner-up at the Gary Player Country Club in the 2019 Sun City Challenge, so it is never too surprising to see him at the top of the leaderboard as he was after the first round of the Blue Label Challenge at the famous 7831-yard course on Wednesday.

In a tournament using a modified Stableford scoring system, Strydom shot a wonderful seven-under-par 65, his eight birdies and just one bogey giving him a total of 15 points. That left the 36-year-old one point ahead of Ruan Korb (66), while Jayden Schaper and Rhys Enoch also shot six-under-par but finished on 13 points because they did not have an eagle on their cards, as Korb did on the par-five 11^th.

Strydom’s solitary bogey came on the first hole, and he stayed on minus-one points through the next four holes, but thereafter the Serengeti golfer found the conditions and very warm temperatures much to his liking with three successive birdies from the sixth hole. He was especially potent on the back nine, where he collected five birdies.

“On the first hole I hit two in the bush and I thought ‘here we go!’. But I kept calm and then I changed my ball after five holes because that one wasn’t really working. I then got a lucky bounce on the sixth green and I just started making birdies,” Strydom said. “I was hitting it nicely off the tee, finding the fairways and then hitting my irons quite close. The putting then works out itself.”

Strydom is known to be a big hitter off the tee and, with summer rains having arrived in the Pilanesberg, the fact that there is not as much run on the fairways as in winter has suited him.

“Most of the previous events here have been in winter, when the ball really runs on the fairways. But now it’s softer, it feels a club or two longer that normal. But I like that because it means not everyone can attack the greens from long distance. They are very soft greens though and the ball either comes back or stops dead,” Strydom said.

The man who made his breakthrough win at the 2019 Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event at Sishen has enjoyed a solid season and is 30^th on the Order of Merit. His tee-to-green work has been consistent, and now, as the big money co-sanctioned events loom, his putter has started coming to life.

“I was a bit off at the beginning of the season, slowly getting better and I have not struggled from tee-to-green in the last six months. My putting was a bit of a problem though and my coach Doug Wood has been working very hard at it. I’m starting to get more comfortable with the process,” Strydom said.

Toto Thimba Junior has returned from his bucket-list trip to St Andrews for the Dunhill Links Championship in fine fettle and he shot a four-under-par 68 for 11 points.

Welshman Enoch has also returned to the Sunshine Tour, for the first time since winning the KitKat Group Pro-Am in March, and has come off an up-and-down European Tour campaign. But he looked in excellent touch on Wednesday, his only dropped shot coming on the par-five 18^th, which was his ninth hole.

Scores – https://sunshinetour.com/tournament-information/?tourn=BLCH&season=221S&report=tmentry~season=221S~alphaorder~#/home

Every Sharks supporter adores the energy and cutting-edge skill Makazole Mapimpi brings to the side, but the World Cup star will sit out for another couple of weeks following his return from Japan as he was not named on Thursday in the squad for Saturday’s Rainbow Cup match against the Stormers at Kings Park.

Mapimpi has been on loan to Johan Ackermann’s NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes side for more than a year, helping them to the Top League quarterfinals, and returned to Durban last week. Sharks coach Sean Everitt is delighted to have his ace finisher back, but explained on Thursday why he is not rushing him back into action just yet.

“Makazole has been amazing for us both on and off the field, it’s a pleasure to have him back, and he’s always in good nick conditioning-wise. But he hasn’t trained much with the team yet and a full week’s training will do him good. We have a bye next week when the Springboks will be away at their alignment camp, and then he will be up for selection for us the following week when we travel to the Lions.

“He said he really enjoyed the experience in Japan, he’s someone who likes to learn, he prides himself on learning something new every day. So it was enriching for him and he has come back with some really good ideas. He said there are only slight differences in detail to what they were doing in Japan. But he’s shared a lot of info with us, different coaches bring different things and he learnt a lot playing with TJ Perenara,” Everitt said.

But while the Sharks have welcomed back one Springbok in Mapimpi, they have lost another in loose forward Sikhumbuzo Notshe, who had surgery this week on a ruptured patella tendon and will unfortunately be out for several months. Henco Venter will move to eighthman, with Thembelani Bholi taking the number seven jersey.

While Everitt said it will not change their attacking shape, the hard-grinding Venter is clearly an eighthman in different clothing to the more expansive, linking Notshe.

“It’s devastating for Sikhumbuzo because he was a form No.8 and would probably have gone with Duane Vermeulen to the Springboks for the Lions series, but he’s in a positive space after successful surgery. He will unfortunately be out for a while.

“We have lots of options at eight, Phepsi Buthelezi has done the job there before, Siya Kolisi plays eighthman as well. But we just felt Henco is more suited to how we want to play, we need a more experienced team against a very experienced Stormers pack,” Everitt explained.

Sharks team: Aphelele Fassi, Sbu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am (C), Marius Louw, Yaw Penxe, Curwin Bosch, Jaden Hendrikse, Henco Venter, Thembelani Bholi, Siya Kolisi, Reniel Hugo, JJ van der Mescht, Thomas du Toit, Fez Mbatha, Ox Nche. Bench – Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Wiehahn Herbst, Ruben van Heerden, Phepsi Buthelezi, Sanele Nohamba, Manie Libbok, Werner Kok.