The promising star all-rounder of South Africa, Annerie Dercksen, has been rewarded the ICC Emerging Women’s Cricketer Of The Year 2024, beating a tough field to win the prestigious honor. She has never looked back, wearing the green and golds for the first-ever time in January 2023 during the T20I triangular series between India and West Indies.
The 23-year-old from South Africa has featured in five T20Is in her initial year, where the all-rounder established herself in international cricket in 2024. In a year, she also made her Test and ODI debuts for the Proteas.
With the ball, the medium pacer has picked up 11 wickets, where he displayed her potential as a true all-rounder. Overall, in 12 WT20Is, the right-handed batter has smashed 170 runs at an average of 24.28 and a strike rate of 128.78, with the best score of unbeaten 44 runs.
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The 23-year-old Protea batter smacked 70 runs in four innings at an average of 17.50, a strike rate of 17.50, and a strike rate of 65.42, with the best score of 29. Last year, he featured in two Tests against India and England at Chennai and Bloemfontein, respectively.
The South African batter got 60 runs in four innings. Dercksen was part of the Rainbow Nation’s stellar campaign in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, during which the Proteas managed to reach the final before falling short to New Zealand in the final at the Dubai International Stadium.
South Africa’s Annerie Dercksen wins ICC Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year 2024.
She maintained a very healthy average of 32.2 in the shortest format last year and helped South Africa in several difficult situations. She also displayed the ability to pick the pace despite contributing float in the lower-order positions at the start of the year before being drafted in the middle order towards the end.
Annerie claimed five wickets in the format, including her career-best 2/5 against Sri Lakka during her comprehensive victory at home in March.
‘Winning the ICC Women’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year 2024 has been a huge honor. I think most of the credit should go to the coaches and the teammates for their support and belief. But as I said, I am very humbled, and motivated to keep working more. I think there are more special moments this year than the previous. My Test and ODI debut in India were special.” Dercksen shed light.
“The journey of the World Cup, even though we didn’t do well in the final, holds a special place in my life. It’s the highlight of my career. The innings I played against Pakistan in Multan were special. It was the series decider, and I feel the knock gave us momentum to the World Cup.” The youngster from South Africa expressed to the ICC media.
Dercksen’s best came with the 41-run knock as he was part of the 92-run stand for the second wicket. In the leadup to the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, her biggest opportunity came against Pakistan, when she claimed unbeaten 44 runs in 23 balls, thanks to six boundaries and two towering sixes, which came during the experienced Nida Dar and Sadia Iqbal.
Her explosive batting helped South Africa to win the series as he earned the ‘Player of the Match’ award. She will hope to carry the same form in the future and help them win more games with the bat and ball.