CAPE TOWN – Pieter Malan was the big winner at the end of season Cape Cobras Player Awards held in the President's Suite at Newlands on Tuesday evening, scooping four awards including the ultimate accolade as Cape Cobras Cricketer of the Year.
Malan was also named Momentum One-Day Cup Player of the Year, Player’s Player of the Year and received the Momentum One-Day Cup Spirited Cricketer of the Year award.
Mthiwekhaya Nabe was the recipient of the Young Player of the Year award. The young seamer nipped out 36 batsmen in 26 matches, forced his way into the franchise team and is destined to represent the Cape Cobras at the CSA National Academy during the winter.
Zubayr Hamza, who scored 828 runs including three tons and four half-centuries, was awarded the Sunfoil Series Player of the Year.
JP Duminy was the Player of the Year in the RamSlam T20 Challenge, having scored 415 runs with an unbeaten 85 his best performance.
The overall winner of the Spirited Cricketer of the Year was Andrew Puttick. The veteran opening batsman played in his last season after 18 years as senior statesman.
Cobras coach Ashwell Prince said afterwards he saw Puttick score his first runs with a couple of runs through mid-wicket and he also saw his last century on Sunday in his final hurrah for the Cobras.
Kyle Verreynne was the recipient of Spirited Cricketer of the Year in the Sunfoil Series, capping off a brilliant debut season for the side.
GALLERY | Here are some of your winners from the 2017/28 @WorldSportsBet Cape Cobras' Awards Dinner - including Andrew Puttick, who received the Spirited Cricketer of the Year in honour of his more than 20 years of service to @wp_cricket. #CobrasAwards🐍 #SpiritedCricket💪 pic.twitter.com/OdEU10e9oB
— COBRAS CRICKET (@CobrasCricket) March 28, 2018
Probed about his 892 Sunfoil Series runs and 615 in the 50-over domestic showpiece, Malan, who spent many seasons toiling in the semi-pro competition for Western Province, said: “I hoped that it would go reasonably well, but it exceeded my expectations for the season.
“There is a difference in the intensity (of semi-pro and franchise cricket). There is bit more depth in every side you play against. If you keep doing the right things, you will be successful,” he added to Independent Media.
Malan has already made a step up to South Africa A against Australia in the first match on the Australian tour and is looking forward to his progression higher up the ranks.
“It was fantastic (playing against the Aussies),” he said. “While I was out there it was tough, but I felt this is the type of cricket you want to play. The intensity, the skill level. It was at a different level to what I have previously experienced before. It is a taste I would definitely like to experience.
“There is definitely stuff I want to work on in red-ball and white-ball cricket, but I feel if you do the right things enough times you will be rewarded.”
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