Amla third Proteas player to be named SA's Cricketer of the Year twice

Veteran South African cricketer Hashim Amla has reportedly become the third player from the country to be named his country's 'Cricketer of the Year' on two occasions, when he received the award for 2012/2013 season at a gala Cricket South Africa (CSA) banquet.

According to Sport24, Amla had previously won the award in 2010 and joined two other dual winners in Makhaya Ntini (2005 and 2006) and Jacques Kallis (2004 and 2011), while other previous winners include Shaun Pollock (2007), Dale Steyn (2008), Graeme Smith (2009) and Vernon Philander (2012).

The report mentioned that the right-handed batsman won four awards, including the Test Cricketer of the Year, Fans' Cricketer of the Year and KFC 'So Good' award, adding that the only award which he did not win despite being nominated was for the ODI Player of the Year despite being nominated, which went to ODI skipper AB de Villiers.

Meanwhile, the report said that De Villiers picked up a second award as the Players' Player of the Year, adding that Dale Steyn was named KFC T20 International Player of the Year and Kallis won the RAM SLAM Delivery of the Year award.

According to the report, Marizanne Kapp was named South African women's Cricketer of the Year while Kyle Abbott rounded out the international awards by being named South Africa's Newcomer of the Year.

Hailing the awarded players, CSA CEO Haroon Lorgat specially commended Amla, saying that Amla has set South African record Test scores since unity against both England and Australia and is the first player to score a Test treble century for their country.

Stating that Amla displayed the true spirit of cricket with his attitude and humility in the game, Lorgat also said that those qualities transcend his international statistics for which the country is lucky to have him as a role model for the future generations.