PACE bowler Louis Klazinga was named Namibia’s Cricket Player of the Year at Cricket Namibia’s annual awards ceremony on Saturday evening.
Klazinga, who beat the other finalists, all-rounder Craig Williams and batsman Raymond van Schoor, to the award, has had a great season. Anarie van Schoor won the Women’s Player of the Year award, while Eveline Katjihera won the award for the most progress by a woman. Klazinga was one of the top bowlers in the Cricket South Africa provincial competition, finishing as the third highest wicket taker in the three-day competition with 48 wickets, and the fifth highest wicket taker in the one-day competition with 20 wickets. He is currently the leading bowler in the ICC Intercontinental Shield competition with 14 wickets from two matches. Raymond van Schoor was Namibia’s top batsman in the one-day CSA competition with 367 runs at an average of 36,70, while Williams was Namibia’s top batsman in the three-day CSA competition with 860 runs at an average of 37,39. Klazinga said it was a great honour for him to win the prize. ‘It’s a great privilege and honour for me. Loads of players wanted to win this award so it’s a great privilege for me to win it,’ he said. ‘I had a really good season, I just tried to keep things simple and it worked for me. One of my best games was against Gauteng when I took six wickets in an innings and that was also my personal best bowling figures in a first class game. I also took five wickets in an innings on four occasions so that was also a big accomplishment for me,’ he added.Klazinga said he would take a bit of a rest now to pay attention to his farming at Otjiwarongo, but he would be back for the new season starting in September. Klazinga said the future of Namibian cricket looked bright.’Namibia is in a building phase now but we are doing very well at the moment so the future looks bright. There are three or four new guys in the team but they are certainly up to standard. They have taken the spots that went open after some of the more experienced players retired and they are doing well,’ he said. Other prizes The young fast bowler Elton Ambambi, who broke into the national team this season, won the Rookie of the Year award, Marsia Reed won the Administrator of the Year award, Theunis van Schalkwyk won the Umpire of the Year award, and Abe Louw won the President’s award for services to cricket. Bernard Scholtz won the Under-19 Player of the Year award, Edwin Reed won the Under-15 Player of the Year award, Michau du Preez won the Under-13 Player of the Year award and Ricardo Strauss won the Development Player of the Year award. Wanderers dominated the team trophies on offer. They won N$19 000 and a trophy for winning the MTC Premier League, while United came second and CCD third. Wanderers won N$6 500 and a trophy for winning the MTC First League, while Sparta came second and Mariental third.In the 20/20 competition, United won the MTC Premier League competition, while Wanderers won the MTC First League competition. Cricket Namibia held its annual general meeting earlier on Saturday, where Francois Erasmus was re-elected as the president for a second two-year term.www.namibiasport.com.na
