Ken Borland

Anrich Nortje is the rapidly improving fast bowler who won the Newcomer of the Year award last season for the Proteas, and now on Monday night he was crowned the overall Player of the Year. And the 27-year-old just wants to be the bowler who keeps hitting the top of off stump more than anyone else.

As well as being named the SA Men’s Cricketer of the Year,  Nortje took the titles of Test Cricketer of the Year and the Fans’ Player of the Year, and also shared the prestigious Players’ Player of the Year award with Aiden Markram.

“I was not thinking about winning four awards after such an up-and-down season with Covid and not playing a lot of games. I had a decent season but I’m just very happy to be part of the awards again. I’m quite happy with how I progressed, there were just moments here and there where I needed to lift. I’ve had a short career but there have been a lot of highlights in the Tests.

“I’m looking forward to building on that momentum and I’m very excited about going to the West Indies. I’ve heard a lot of good stories about the place, but I’m not sure if it will suit fast bowling. When you know the conditions aren’t going to suit you, then you just have to concentrate extra hard on the basics, try and hit the top of off stump as often as possible,” Nortje said.

Fellow fast bowler Shabnim Ismail was the SA Women’s Cricketer of the Year and she also sounded like someone who had passed their exams, acknowledging that the 2020/21 season had been a testing one. She was also voted the Players’ Player of the Year and the T20 Cricketer of the Year.

“I’m truly happy with the awards because they show all the hard work behind the scenes has paid off. I was really happy with my performances and I’m just really grateful and happy to win these awards. I put in the hard yards, I was getting career-bests and I’ve done well for the team. I was chuffed with my performances and happy overall.

“I have to give credit to my team-mates because I could not do it without them and our new strength and conditioning coach has helped with my loads and our whole management team is just so positive. We wanted to portray ourselves as a different South African team and I think we did that in the last two series against Pakistan and India. And now hopefully we can win the World Cup,” Ismail said.

The equity of the Multiply Titans just keeps rising, with another rich haul of trophies gathered at the Cricket South Africa Awards this year, and much of the credit for that success must go to the leadership and equanimity of Northerns Cricket Union president John Wright.

Apart from achieving success on the playing field – a box the Titans certainly ticked by winning two of the three franchise trophies – the union also places a high premium on CSA’s scorecard system that ranks administration, and winning the Affiliate of the Year title for four successive years is a tremendous feather in their cap.

“For the Northerns Cricket Union to win CSA’s incentive scorecard for four years running is definitely a highlight from an admin perspective, as is every competition we have won on the field. We implemented a turnaround strategy for the stadium, which we remodelled with cosmetic upgrades and making it fit for different uses. Jacques Faul [CEO] has done really well to turn SuperSport Park into a multi-use venue.

“The function of our board is good and there has been very good support from council. Before 2013, there were many meetings postponed because we didn’t have a quorum, but it hasn’t happened once since then. Our club cricket continues to do well too and a good university is critical for any province. The involvement and success of Tuks is one of the reasons we do well, they are strong, with good facilities, coaching and infrastructure,” Wright said.

2013 was the year that Wright began his tenure as NCU president and initially he was meant to serve a maximum of two two-year terms. But then CSA decided in 2015 that presidents can serve two three-year terms and the Northerns council decided recently that the renowned international hockey umpire is eligible for another term when elections are held in August.

If Wright is re-elected, which would seem to be the obvious move, then the 47-year-old will be stressing that there can be no relaxing as the NCU and the Titans have to keep striving for greater heights.

“This is a fantastic union and franchise, steeped in a lot of history, but we mustn’t forget that we weren’t always one of the big dogs. Now we have to maintain our success and keep looking at opportunities to improve. We have achieved a lot, but to rest on our laurels would be a huge mistake.

“The well-being of our clubs is critical and I would like to empower them and provide them with even more opportunities. On the field, obviously the Titans had the chance to do the treble but only ended up with the double. But it’s a very cut-throat, tight competition. But I do believe that we have what it takes to win all three tournaments, we just have to be consistent all the way through,” Wright said.

The senior sports organiser at the Tshwane University of Technology stated that the Northerns provincial team and transformation in schools would be areas of focus for him if he serves another term.

“We’ve ridden the wave for a long time, we’ve been one of the most successful franchises in South African cricket history by winning two trophies for three years in a row, but this season coming will be a good test of where the franchise really is because we will be without a lot of Proteas players. And it’s great that we have provided a number of new players for South Africa recently.

“I would also like to see our Northerns provincial team be more competitive and more consistent, that needs a bit of rebuilding. I hope those coaches are allowed time to come through and are not just hung out to dry after one season. We need to give them an opportunity to establish themselves.

“There’s also a lot of work to do in the transformation of schools. We have not been as effective as we should have been at that level – there are some spectacular results but then some schools are dragging their heels. And I would like to see people have an even bigger attachment to SuperSport Park, make it feel even more familiar for our fans,” Wright said.

The chairman of the Titans franchise is certainly now a familiar face in South African cricket and, having achieved so much already, he still has plenty to give.