Proteas Women stars set to be crowned at Emperors Palace

The Cricket South Africa Awards are all set to be a grand affair at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg on Thursday evening.

The attention will undoubtedly be on the Proteas Men’s Test side after their marvellous achievement in winning the World Test Championship final at Lord’s last month, and in the process breaking South Africa’s 27-year drought without a major ICC trophy.

The WTC Final heroes will no doubt be lauded and afforded the much-deserved plaudits.

However, it is fast forgotten that the Proteas Women’s team had come perilously close to winning an ICC tournament themselves, after reaching a successive ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final towards the end of last year.

While Laura Wolvaardt’s team were just not able to get over the line against New Zealand in the UAE, there were some outstanding performances by her team throughout the tournament and also across the other formats over the past calendar year.

Wolvaardt, who swept the board last year when she claimed the South African Women's Cricketer of the Year, the Women's T20 International Player of the Year, ODI Player of the Year, Players' Player of the Year, and Fans' Player of the Year awards, has once again been nominated in the three categories.

The skipper will go head-to-head for the coveted South African Women's Cricketer of the Year award with teammates Annerie Dercksen, Marizanne Kapp and Nonkululeko Mlaba.

Wolvaardt has scored 371 runs at an average of 46.37 in nine ODI’s and 818 T20I runs at 28.20 over the past calendar year. Wolvaardt struck a half-century in the Bloemfontein Test against England.

Left-arm spinner Mlaba will pose a strong challenge for the main prize after claiming 15 ODI wickets at an average of 22, and a further 16 T20I wickets at 18.62. Mlaba starred with the ball in Proteas’ solitary Test match, claiming a maiden 10-wicket haul.

Mlaba is also nominated in four other categories: the Women’s T20I Player of the Year, Women’s ODI Player of the Year, Delivery of the Year (with two separate entries), and SA Fans’ Player of the Year award.

Young all-rounder Dercksen has enjoyed a breakthrough season though with the 24-year-old allrounder dominating with the bat. Dercksen was sensational on the tour of Sri Lanka, scoring 276 runs at an average of 92.0 in the ODI Tri-Series involving the hosts and India.

This pushed her overall ODI run tally to 398 at an average of 44.20, while she also averaged 42.50 in the T20Is to make her a leading contender for the SA Women’s Cricketer of the Year award.

Veteran Kapp had limited playing time over the past 12 months as she underwent a strength and conditioning programme, but still featured in 10 T20I’s, averaging 18.09 with the ball and 15.28 with the ball. She only played five ODI’s, scoring 126 runs at an average of  31.50 and taking 10 wickets at 11.10.