Black Caps Lockie Ferguson and Kyle Jamieson have been recognised for their efforts over the last season with top honours at the ESPN CricInfo awards.
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Ferguson was awarded Best T20 Bowling Performance of 2020 for his efforts against the West Indies in Auckland in November while Jamieson was named the Debutant of the Year.
Ferguson’s performance was pivotal to the Black Caps’ first T20 of the home summer, finishing the match with figures of 5/21 after claiming three wickets with his first seven balls.
The start of Ferguson’s fine spell broke up the dangerous opening partnership of Andre Fletcher and Brandon King who had helped the Windies race out to 55 runs in just the first three overs.
Ferguson returned late in the match to net another two wickets inside four deliveries, collecting just the second T20 five-wicket bag in Black Caps history.
The Black Caps went on to win the match by five wickets via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.
For Jamieson, the numbers really speak for themselves.
The 26-year-old all-rounder burst onto the scene last summer against India when he nabbed nine wickets in the series as well as a man-of-the-match award in the second Test.
From there, Jamieson’s stocks continued to rise as he collected 11 wickets in the West Indies series and a further 16 against Pakistan.
Jamieson’s wicket totals weren’t the only impressive numbers though with the 2.03m-tall Black Cap averaging 14.44 runs per wicket while bowling 56 maidens from his 159 overs throughout the 2020 Test season.
On the flip side, Jamieson also impressed with the bat as he averaged 56.6 runs in Tests.
The CricInfo awards are voted on by an independent jury of former cricketers, commentators and some of the publication’s senior writers.
ESPN CricInfo Awards 2020
Men's Test batting performance of the year: Ajinkya Rahane, 112 vs Australia, Melbourne
Men's Test bowling performance of the year: Josh Hazlewood, 5 for 8 vs India, Adelaide
Men's ODI batting performance of the year: Glenn Maxwell, 108 vs England, Manchester
Men's ODI bowling performance of the year: Blessing Muzarabani, 5 for 49 vs Pakistan, Rawalpindi
Men's T20I batting performance of the year: Jonny Bairstow, 86 not out vs South Africa, Cape Town
Men's T20I bowling performance of the year: Lockie Ferguson, 5 for 21 vs West Indies, Auckland
Women's batting performance of the year: Alyssa Healy, 75 vs India, T20 World Cup final, Melbourne
Women's bowling performance of the year: Poonam Yadav, 4 for 19 vs Australia, T20 World Cup, Sydney
Debutant of the year: Kyle Jamieson