Six awards to be handed out after SA20 final, organisers confirm

The SA20 League will offer six awards at the end of the inaugural campaign to reward “the excellent performances from the players” and others, organisers announced on Monday.

There have been some standout performances in the opening weeks of the T20 competition, with more expected as the league enters the playoff stages this week.

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Faf du Plessis (369) of the Joburg Super Kings and Heinrich Klaasen (363) of Durban’s Super Giants top the run-scorers list following their centuries, while Pretoria Capitals’ Anrich Nortje leads the wickets chart with 15 scalps.

The awards will include Player of the Season, Batter of the Season, Bowler of the Season, 2023 Rising Star, the Spirit of Cricket team and the Groundsman of the Season, all to be handed out after Saturday’s final.

Player of the Season

The South Africa Cricketers’ Association’s (SACA) MVP scoring system will be used to determine the winner of this accolade.

The scoring system takes into account a range of factors, including batting, bowling, fielding, captaincy, Player-of-the-Match awards and even being on the winning team.

Batter of the Season

This award will be unlike any other regular batting prize where the leading run-scorer is customarily the winner.

Instead, the winner will be determined by filtering the SACA MVP scoring system for batting performances including runs scored, percentage of team’s runs scored, strike rate and milestones achieved.

Bowler of the Season

Similar to the batting award, the bowling award will be determined by filtering the SACA MVP scoring system for bowling performances including wickets taken.

Top-order wickets count more, while runs conceded, milestones and economy rate will all be taken into account.

2023 Rising Star

Only players under 25 years old on 10 January 2023 will be in contention for this award.

The winner will be the highest ranked player on the SACA MVP scoring system who meets the age criteria.

Spirit of Cricket

The Betway SA20 match officials (match referees and umpires) have scored each team on a game-to-game basis, taking into account the spirit of the game, respect to opposition, respect to umpires and respect for laws of the game.

The highest ranked team will be the winners of this award.

Groundsman of the Season

This award will be won by the groundsman who receives the highest score for the preparation of his ground.

Each ground is scored on a game-to-game basis by the SA20 match referee on the quality of the pitch and outfield conditions, and its suitability to the T20 format.