AB de Villiers dominated the Cricket South Africa Awards banquet by bagging four awards, including Cricketer of the Year 2014, here on Wednesday evening.
De Villiers was also named Test Cricketer of the Year, was recognised by his peers as SA Players? Player of the Year and by popular vote of the public, SA Fans` Cricketer of the Year.
The only award for which De Villiers was nominated but did not win was the ODI Player of the Year which went to Quinton de Kock, who scored four centuries in the period under review including three in consecutive innings.
Imran Tahir was named T20 International Player of the Year, paceman Dale Steyn won the Delivery of the Year and veteran Kallis won the KFC `So Good` Award for his century in his final Test match appearance against India.
Marizanne Kapp was named Momentum Women`s Cricketer of the Year for the second successive year.
“This has been another great year of wonderful achievements for our top players,” said CSA Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat.
“AB`s statistics are sheer class and speak for themselves. He is the world?s best batsman, ranked No. 1 in Test match cricket and No.2 in ODI cricket. His highest rating of 935 points in Test cricket is the joint 10th highest of all time alongside Jacques Kallis and Matthew Hayden.
“But that only tells a part of his amazing skills. He has always been an entertainer and innovator par excellence while at the same time he has the ability to dig really deep in pressure situations.
“We all saw his strength of character illustrated against Australia at Adelaide in 2012 and again against India at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium last season.
“We are proud of the scale of his achievements and, more importantly, the manner in which he does it. He is an exceptionally talented cricketer who always adapts to the needs of the team.”
The previous winners of CSA`s most prestigious award at international level are Jacques Kallis (2004 and 2011), Makhaya Ntini (2005 and 2006), Shaun Pollock (2007), Dale Steyn (2008), Graeme Smith (2009), Hashim Amla (2010 and 2013) and Vernon Philander (2012).
