Laura Wolvaardt underlined her status as South Africa’s finest female cricketer, by making a clean sweep in the women’s categories at Thursday night’s CSA professional awards ceremony.
The Proteas captain won every prize she was eligible for; overall Player of the Year, best ODI player, best T20 player and was also voted by her peers as the Players Player of the Year.
Aiden Markram was the main victor among the men’s internationals, winning the Player of the Year Award for the first time, and was also named by his teammates as the Players Player of the Year.
It was the third time Wolvaardt has won the Women’s Player of the Year. None of her national teammates came even close to producing her level of dominance. She averaged 52.07 in T20s for the period under review (April 2025 to May 2026), scoring her 729 runs at a strike rate of 145.80.
A Record-Breaking Masterclass! 💯
Laura Wolvaardt blazes into the history books with the fastest century by a Proteas Woman, now standing as the joint fourth-fastest in Women’s T20I cricket. 🇿🇦
A knock of pure class, precision, and power. ⚡#Unbreakablepic.twitter.com/MHhEbKAkTr
— Proteas Women (@ProteasWomenCSA) April 23, 2026
Her performances in the ODIs were even more extraordinary, as she scored 1306 runs in 24 innings, averaging 59.36, making five hundreds and six fifties.
She was the highest run-scorer in last year’s ODI Women’s World Cup and saved her best for the two most important matches in that tournament. In the semifinal she scored a stunning 169 that knocked out England and followed that with 101 in the final, which South Africa lost to hosts India.
Kayla Reyneke was named international newcomer, while left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba won the best delivery award among the women for her dismissal of India’s Harleen Deol in the group stage of the World Cup.
Markram’s wins were thanks to consistency across all three formats. Besides his value with the bat, which included one of the greatest Test innings’ by a South African to win the World Test Championship at Lord’s, he also contributed with the ball and in the second Test against India, claiming a new record for the most number of catches in a match, nine.
Markram also captained the Test and ODI teams in Temba Bavuma’s absence and was South Africa’s top performer at this year’s T20 World Cup, scoring 286 runs, which included three half-centuries. The Proteas came up short in that tournament where they were knocked out in the semifinals by New Zealand.
🎥 POV- You’re in the commentary box as Aiden Markram lights up Lord’s with a statement hundred in the Ultimate Test 🎙️SAvAUS WTC25 Cricket #SouthAfrica#TestCricket#AidenMarkram
Lungi Ngidi was named T20 Player of the Year and his 12 wickets at the World Cup, taken with an economy rate of 7.19, showed not just his variety, but control too, given he bowls in the power play and at the death. Ngidi’s devastating slower ball to Jos Buttler in the second ODI against England last year earned him the delivery of the year prize.
Simon Harmer’s impact in the Proteas’ series in Pakistan and India saw him pick up the Test player of the year crown. The veteran off-spinner took 30 wickets in four Tests, 17 of those against India, helping South Africa to a first series victory in that country in 25 years.
Matthew Breetzke, was the best ODI player. He was South Africa’s top run-scorer in ODIs, making five half-centuries. Having captained the Proteas in Pakistan last year, when many of the established players were being rested, he seems to be a strong contender for the squad for next year’s World Cup.
Domestically, there were wins for the Warriors’s Matthew de Villiers (T20 Player of the Year), Duan Jansen of the Titans (One-Day Player of the Year) and the Lions’s Delano Potgieter (Four-Day Player of the Year). Boland’s Gavin Kaplan, who scored over 900 runs in the Four-Day series, was named the domestic Players Player of the Year.
Western Province’s Faye Tunnicliffe was the recipient of the female domestic players’ player award, alongside being named the best Pro20 player, while her teammate Nosipho Vezi scooped the Pro50 prize and Miya Lalor was named the newcomer of the year domestically.
The Warriors’s Robin Peterson, who oversaw his team’s title win in the domestic T20 Challenge and then led them to a runners-up spot in the Four-Day series, was named Division One Coach of the Year.
