Quinton de Kock, Lungi Ngidi dominate CSA Awards nomination list

Johannesburg [South Africa], May 29 (ANI): South Africa's Quinton de Kock and pacer Lungi Ngidi have received the most number of nominations for the 2019/20 Cricket South Africa (CSA) Men's International Awards.
De Kock and Ngidi have both been nominated in the following three categories: SA Men's Cricketer of the Year, ODI Cricketer of the Year and T20 Cricketer of the Year.
In addition, De Kock has been nominated Test Cricketer of the Year along with Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje as well as for the SA Men's Players' Players award, while Ngidi has been nominated for the Streetwise Award.
In the women's section, Proteas all-rounder Marizanne Kapp and batsman Laura Wolvaardt have both won nominations in four categories.
The event to honour South Africa's top-performing professional cricketers over the past year will take place on July 4 in a virtual ceremony because of the restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Nortje, in his first year of international cricket, has also been nominated in the SA Men's Cricketer of the Year and Delivery of the Year category.
Other Proteas men's players nominated in the various categories are Temba Bavuma (T20 Cricketer of the Year), Heinrich Klaasen (ODI Cricketer of the Year), David Miller (SA Men's Players' Player of the Year) and Vernon Philander (Delivery of the Year).
Neither Ngidi nor Nortje has previously won CSA's highest men's accolade of SA Cricketer of the Year while De Kock, having previously won the award in 2017, will be aiming to join the elite company of the previous double winners: Makhaya Ntini (2005/06), Jacques Kallis (2004/11), Hashim Amla (2010/13), AB de Villiers (2014/15) and Rabada (2016/18).
In the women's section, Kapp and Wolvaardt have both been nominated for Proteas Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year and for the Proteas Players' Player of the year.
Wolvaardt has also been nominated for Proteas Cricketer of the Year and for the Streetwise award while Kapp has an additional nomination for the Delivery of the Year.
The other contenders for the supreme women's accolade of SA Women's Cricketer of the Year are Shabnim Ismail and Lizelle Lee who have both also been nominated for Proteas T20 Cricketer of the Year along with newcomer Nadine de Klerk. Ayabonga Khaka has been nominated for Proteas ODI Player of the Year.
Mignon du Preez joins Wolvaardt in being nominated for the Streetwise award.
The function will feature a notable first with South Africa's best men's and women's cricketers for the first time going head to head in two categories: Streetwise Award and the Delivery of the Year.
"It is my great pleasure and privilege to congratulate all the nominees as we celebrate the achievements of both our Proteas men's and women's squads. And, while we are doing that, let us not forget to thank all those great and selfless people who work diligently behind the scenes to create opportunities for our leading cricketers to excel," commented CSA Acting Chief Executive Jacques Faul.
"Our country continues to produce world-class players. Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, Faf du Plessis and Imran Tahir all rank among the top men's players in the world across the various formats and I think we have all been excited to see new faces such as Anrich Nortje and Janneman Malan who have emerged in the past year," he added.
The CSA Awards Judging Panel consists of Jeremy Fredericks (Convener), Crystal Arnold, Makhaya Ntini, Clinton du Preez, Lungani Zama and Natalie Germanos with statistical input by Andrew Samson.
The SA Fans Cricketer of the Year requires fans to vote for the award and details of how the voting mechanism works can be found on CSA's Social Media platforms. (ANI)