Williamson named NZ Player of the Year

WELLINGTON: New Zealand captain Kane Williamson claimed the coveted Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for Men's Player of the Year at the annual New Zealand Cricket awards on Thursday.

Williamson also took home the Test Player of the Year award and the Redpath Cup for First-Class Batting. Ross Taylor, Trent Boult and Colin Munro were the others to receive major awards, while teenaged all-rounder Amelia Kerr was a big winner among the women.

Williamson had a hugely successful year across formats, both individually and with the New Zealand team. Under his leadership, New Zealand rose to become the No. 2 side in the ICC Test Team Rankings. He also enjoyed good form with the bat, scoring 801 Test runs over the season under consideration, at an impressive average of 89

In December 2018, Williamson also became the first New Zealand batsman to breach 900 ratings points in the ICC Test Batting Rankings, and is only nine points behind the No. 1-ranked Virat Kohli.

Like Williamson, the 18-year-old Kerr also bagged three awards, including the Women’s ODI Player of the Year, Phyl Blackler Cup for women’s domestic bowling, and the Venus Cup for Secondary Schools Female Player of the Year. Kerr enjoyed a tremendous season, scoring 415 runs at an average of 59. She also broke the world record for the highest individual score in women's ODIs, when she smashed 232*, surpassing Belinda Clark's 21-year best of 229.

Taylor, who enjoyed a monstrous 2018 in ODIs, where he averaged 84 for his 759 runs, was named the Men's ODI Player of the Year for the second year in a row

In the T20I format, Sophie Devine once again took the Women's Twenty20 Player of the Year award, while Munro, too, bagged the Men's title like he did last year.

Fast bowler Trent Boult, who received the Richard Hadlee Medal last year, was presented the Windsor Cup for first-class bowling, for his 35 wickets at an average of 24.