Amla named South African Cricketer of the Year

Batsman Hashim Amla was the star of Cricket South Africa's annual awards as he walked away with four top honours, including the coveted 'Cricketer of the Year' trophy for the second time in his career.

He was beaten in just one of the top categories by teammate AB de Villiers, who won the ODI Player of the Year award.

Amla's other awards were 'Test Cricketer of the Year' and 'SA Fans' Cricketer of the Year' by popular vote while his historic treble century in The Oval Test against England won him the KFC 'So Good' award.

Amla's previous 'Cricketer of the Year' trophy came in 2010. He is only the third Protea to win the honour twice in his career, the others being Makhaya Ntini (2005 and 2006) and Jacques Kallis (2004 and 2011).

De Villiers picked a second award as the SA Players' Player of the Year while Dale Steyn was named KFC T20 International Player of the Year.

Kallis won the RAM SLAM delivery of the year award for dismissing old rival Ricky Ponting of Australia on day one of the second Test match at the Adelaide Oval.

Marizanne Kapp was named South African Woman Cricketer of the Year while Kyle Abbott rounded out the international awards by being named SA Newcomer of the Year.

"It is not easy to keep finding special words to speak about Hashim," said recently-appointed CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat.

"He has set SA record Test scores since unity against both England and Australia and he is the first player to score a Test treble century for our country. As if that is not remarkable enough he is also the No. 1 rated player on the ICC rankings for Test and ODI players.

"The greatest quality he brings to the game is his attitude and humility, which aptly displays the true spirit of cricket. This transcends all his international statistics and we are indeed very lucky to have such a wonderful role model for our children to emulate," he added.

Image: Hashim Amla