New Zealand Cricket Awards: Matt Henry, Amelia Kerr win cricketer of the year accolades

New Zealand cricket has arguably reached its peak in the last two seasons with some incredible performances. On Wednesday, April 9, NZC hosted its annual awards night where all-rounder Amelia Kerr won the Debbie Hockley award whereas Kiwi pacer Matt Henry went on to win the Sir Richard Hadlee award.

Both Kerr and Matt Henry had a great season and very much deserve the accolade, which is meant to be one of the most prestigious in New Zealand cricket history. Amelia Kerr scored a total of 135 runs and 15 wickets in the T20 World Cup 2024 and had decent performances in ODIs as well. Kerr had an average of 33 with the bat and took 14 wickets as well. She also won the T20I and ODI cricketer of the year award as well.

While Kerr had changed games with both bat and ball, Kiwi pacer Matt Henry was the one who only needed the ball to do some damage in international cricket. Henry also took the Men’s Test and ODI Player of the Year awards as well. He went on to take 25 wickets in the five games he played at an average of 20.08 where his most notable performance was in the Test match against India in Bengaluru where he took eight wickets. Henry also led the pace attack well after the retirement of legendary pacers Trent Boult and Tim Southee, and played a major role for the team in the Champions Trophy.

Other notable awardees

Apart from Henry and Kerr, there were other Kiwi stars who took some of the awards. Jacob Duffy was named as the Men’s T20I Player of the Year. Duffy took 21 wickets at an average of 9.71 which was also enough to make him the number one-ranked pacer in T20Is, overtaking Akeal Hosein.

New Zealand’s modern-day great Kane Williamson went on to win the Redpath Cup for his terrific performance in first-class tournaments. The Ruth Martin Cup, which is the Women’s counterpart, was won by New Zealand Women’s top-order batter Maddy Green.

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