Dawson among cricketers honoured

Alan Dawson's contribution to South African cricket over the years was rewarded yesterday when he was named one of five cricketers of the year by the Mutual & Federal South African cricket annual. Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, Andre Nel and Makhaya Ntini were the other four cricketers honoured at a banquet in Johannesburg on October 4.

Kallis was an obvious choice after scoring five centuries in successive Tests against the West Indies and New Zealand last season. Gibbs, Nel and Ntini did well against the West Indies and this swung things in their favour. Gibbs made centuries in three successive Tests against the West Indies, while Nel and Ntini were South Africa's main strike bowlers against the tourists. Nel gave an extra dimension to the South African attack by taking 22 wickets in the series including the key wicket of West Indian captain Brian Lara five times. Ntini was the leading wicket-taker in the series with 29, a record for a South African bowler in a four-Test series. Ntini was also the leading Test wicket-taker in the world during the calendar year 2003, taking 59 wickets.

Colin Bryden, the editor of the annual, said: "South Africa played some dominant cricket in the home series against the West Indies and there were several outstanding individual achievements."