The 25-year-old South African skipper Laura Wolvaardt dominated at the CSA Annual Awards 2024, just as she has been dominating in the women’s game this year. The awards were divided into seven different categories, namely, Women’s Player of the Year, ODI Player of the Year, T20I Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, Women’s Players, Player of the Year, Fan’s Player of the Year, and Makhaya Ntini Power of Cricket Award.
Women’s Player of the Year (Laura Wolvaardt):
Skipper Laura Wolvaardt has been the stand-out performer for South Africa, across all three formats this year. As a result, she has triumphed over the other three nominees Marizanne Kapp, Tazmin Brits, and Masabata Klaas to claim this prestigious award.
She has been leading the run-scoring charts for South Africa in the T20I format this year. She has scored 311 runs at an impressive strike rate of 135.21 and a sensational average of 44.42 in eight innings. Her tally of runs includes a couple of half-centuries and a century. Her best performance with the bat came on 27th August 2024 when she notched up her maiden T20I century (102 off 63 balls) in the 1st T20I of the series against Sri Lanka. She was also awarded the Player of the Match for her match-winning performance. She was closely followed by Marizanne Kapp (295 runs in 9 innings).
She has also been South Africa’s leading run-scorer in the ODI format with 542 runs at a strike rate of 95.75 and a humongous average of 90.33 in nine innings for her side in the format. Her tally of runs includes three centuries and a half-century. She also notched up her career-best score (184* off 147 balls) in the ODI format on 17th April 2024 in the 3rd ODI at Potchefstroom.
She continued her rich vein of form in the red-ball format as she scored 154 runs at a strike rate of 40.52 and a decent average of 38.50 in four innings. She is South Africa’s 2nd highest run-scorer in the red-ball format this year, behind former skipper Sune Luus (205 runs at a strike rate of 47.01 and a sensational average of 51.25 in four innings). Skipper Laura Wolvaardt also notched up her maiden century (122 off 314 balls) in the red-ball format against India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk in Chennai.
Women’s ODI Player of the Year (Laura Wolvaardt):
The Proteas skipper has triumphed over the four other nominees Ayabonga Khakha, Marizanne Kapp, Tazmin Brits, and Nadine de Klerk to claim this prestigious award.
The 25-year-old South African skipper Laura Wolvaardt has led from the front in the ODI format this year. She is the leading run-scorer with 542 runs at a strike rate of 95.75 and a humongous average of 90.33 in nine innings for her side in the format. Her tally of runs includes three centuries and a half-century. Her best performance with the bat came on 17th April 2024 when she stayed unbeaten on 184* (147 balls), carrying her bat throughout the innings, albeit in a losing cause in the 3rd ODI against Sri Lanka at Potchefstroom. It is also her career-best score in the ODI format.
Women’s T20I Player of the Year (Laura Wolvaardt):
The South African skipper Laura Wolvaardt has edged past the other three nominees Masabata Klaas, Nadine de Klerk, and Tazmin Brits to claim this prestigious honour in the annual awards.
She has been leading the run-scoring charts for South Africa in the T20I format this year. She has scored 311 runs at an impressive strike rate of 135.21 and a sensational average of 44.42 in eight innings. Her tally of runs includes a couple of half-centuries and a century. Her best performance with the bat came on 27th August 2024 when she notched up her maiden T20I century (102 off 63 balls) in the 1st T20I of the series against Sri Lanka. She was closely followed by Marizanne Kapp (295 runs in 9 innings) in the list.
Women’s Newcomer of the Year (Eliz-Mari Marx):
The young 21-year-old all-rounder Eliz-Mari Marx made her international debut on 3rd December 2023 in a T20I against Bangladesh. In a few days time, she also made her ODI debut on 16th December 2023 against Bangladesh.
She was named the Women’s Newcomer of the Year 2024. Eliz-Mari Marx has played four matches and picked up one wicket in three innings with the ball for her side. Apart from her contributions with the ball, she has also scored 12 runs in three innings with the bat for her side in the T20I format.
In the ODI format, she has picked up four wickets in four innings with the ball. Apart from her contributions with the ball, she has also scored 18 runs in three innings with the bat in the ODI format for her side this year.
Women’s Player’s, Player of the Year (Laura Wolvaardt):
Skipper Laura Wolvaardt’s aura, respect, and admiration among her teammates earned her the Women’s Player’s Player of the Year award.
Fan’s Player of the Year (Laura Wolvaardt):
Skipper Laura’s performances in all the formats for South Africa and the kind of love and admiration she has gained among her fans, helped her peep the other three contenders Tazmin Brits, Marizanne Kapp, and Nonkululeko Mlaba to claim the honour of being named as the Fan’s Player of the Year award.
Makhaya Ntini Power of Cricket Award [Masabata Klaas]:
The 33-year-old veteran pacer Masabata Klaas picked up four wickets in five innings with the ball in the T20I format. Apart from her contributions with the ball she also scored five runs in one inning with the bat for her side.
In the ODI format, she has picked up 9 wickets in seven innings with the ball for her side. Her best performance with the ball for her side in the format came on 10th February 2024 at the North Sydney Oval, Sydney in the 3rd ODI against Australia. Apart from her exploits with the ball, she also scored five runs in three innings with the bat.
In the red-ball format, she picked up three wickets in a couple of innings with the ball. Apart from her contributions with the ball, she also scored 15 runs in four innings with the bat for her side. As a result, she was awarded the Makhaya Ntini Power of Cricket Award.