New Zealand captains Kane Williamson, Sophie Devine win top honours

New Zealans skipper Kane Williamson has been named men's one-day international Player of the Year while White Ferns's Suzie Bates has been awarded with the women's honour at the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) annual awards announced on Thursday.

Williamson has been handed the award for guiding New Zealand to the final of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men's World Cup 2019 against England. He ammassed a total of 578 runs in nine innings he played during the showpiece event at an average of 82.57 to also receive the Player of the Tournament award.

Reflecting on the same, New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said that the skipper was simply exceptional during the prestigious event and that his performances had allowed the entire team to play superb cricket.

"Kane was simply exceptional at the ICC Cricket World Cup last year.He can be extremely proud of what he achieved at the tournament in the UK. He scored his runs at crucial times, in crucial matches and he set a tempo throughout the tournament that allowed us to play some superb cricket," Stead said.

Meanwhile, Suzie Bates has picked up the women's ODI Player of the Year award for her impressive performances in the format in last one year.

Bates notched up two fifties in three ODIs against South Africa--which was the only series New Zealand played in the 50-over format of the game in the last 12 months. 

Besides them, experienced batsman Ross Taylor has been named men's T20 Player of the Year award for his exceptional performances in the format. He came up with decent performances in the side's last three series against Sri Lanka, England and India.

Devine, on the other hand, picked up the women's award after achieving a world record of six successive half-centuries in the format. She smashed a total of 429 runs in eight matches at an average of 71.50.

"Sophie’s ability with the ball in T20 cricket goes under the radar at times. She will often step up and bowl the hard overs and uses changes of pace to her advantage.She is a top quality all-rounder and an exceptional T20 talent," White Ferns coach Bob Carter said.

The New Zealand Cricket awards will conclude on Friday when the Sir Richard Hadlee medal for Player of the Year, Test Player of the Year and Umpire of the Year will be announced.