WAYNE PARNELL of the Cape Cobras has bagged the Sunfoil Series Sizzler award for the final five rounds of the Sunfoil Series which has seen The Unlimited Titans claim the title ahead of the bizhub Highveld Lions and the VKB Knights after an intense three-way battle for four-day cricket supremacy. The Lions were the previous title holders.
The Sunfoil Sizzler award is worth R15 000.
The Sunfoil Series Player of the Season will be named at the CSA Awards Ceremony later this year.
Parnell only played the final five rounds of matches mainly as a result of injury and made a sensational return to his best form, finishing ninth on the overall averages with 337 runs at an average of 48.14 including an unbeaten century and taking 23 wickets at 20.56 including one ten-wicket haul and three five-wicket hauls.
He is clearly the leading all-rounder in domestic cricket at present ahead of Werner Coetsee of the Knights and Dwaine Pretorius of the Lions.
It was hardly surprising that the Titans had three players in the top six for the award in Marchant de Lange (third), Heino Kuhn (fourth) and Dean Elgar (sixth). Parnell’s team mate, Dane Piedt, finished second and Craig Alexander of the Sunfoil Dolphins in fifth place.
“Congratulations to Wayne on his Sunfoil Sizzler award,” commented Cricket South Africa (CSA) General Manager: Cricket, Corrie van Zyl. “He has been consistently outstanding with both bat and ball in the last five matches and this is just the form we want to see from our Proteas when they participate in our domestic cricket.
“The shortage of quality all-rounders in our cricket has been a talking point since the retirement of Jacques Kallis and Wayne’s form has been significantly encouraging in this regard.”
The South African Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player index (SACA MVP) is used as the measuring tool in determining the Sunfoil Sizzler of the Month.
The SACA MVP is calculated using an internationally recognised formula which takes into account every discipline in the game of cricket. Batting, bowling, fielding, captaining and winning are all factored in within the context of each individual match. Individual player performances in pressure situations, for example, carry more weight; thus players who deliver when their team needs them most, earn more points.
The SACA MVP latest ranking standings are updated weekly on the SACA website (www.saca.org.za), and may be viewed ‘per competition’ or by having a look at the ‘overall’ standings.
Michael Owen Smith