By Feroz Shaik
Ottoman Cricket Club, the 3rd oldest cricket club in Cape Town and the 7th oldest cricket club in South Africa hosted their annual awards function on Saturday, 21 May 2022 coinciding with the club’s 140th Anniversary.
The club is affiliated with countries such as Turkey and Malaysia and would like to thank the Turkish Consul General, Mr Sinan Yeşildağ, and the Turkish Coordination and Cooperation Council (TIKA), Mr Abdulkadir Abukan who attended the awards evening with approximately 230 guests, for their support.
Ottoman CC received a donation from TIKA in excess of R1m over a three-year period. This enabled the club to upgrade their training, playing and clubhouse facilities and acquire their own pitch machinery.
In his address at the event Mr Yeşildağ remarked that the Turkish Government has supported the club well in the past and will continue to do so into the future while Mr Abukan informed the guests that TIKA is in a very advanced stage of arranging a friendship tour of the Club’s first team squad to Turkey to play a few matches against the Turkish National cricket side. He said the trip is likely to happen towards the end of June.
The OCC awards presented for the evening was as follows:
Main Awards
– Sportsman of the Year Award: Imtiaz Salie
– Player of the Year Award: Taariq Behardien
– Best Newcomer Award: Abdul-Galeem Rylands
– Most Promising Player Award: Tomek Dubla
– Most Improved Player Award: Tohir Abrahams
– Player’s Player of the Year Award: Imraan Abrahams
– Team of the Year Award: 1st Team (Gaining promotion to the WPCA Premier League)
– Overall Best Batsman: Taariq Behardien (788 runs @ 34,3 average)
– Overall Best Bowler: Abdul-Galeem Rylands (39 wickets @ 16,2 average)
– Chairman’s Award: Facilities Team
Individual Performance Awards
Div 1A (1st Team)
– Best Batsman: Taariq Behardien
– Best Bowler: Abdul-Galeem Rylands
Res B (2nd Team)
– Best Batsman: Imraan Abrahams
– Best Bowler: Suhayl Abrahams
Res D (3rd Team)
– Best Batsman: Nadeem Marcus
– Best Bowler: Thaafier Cassiem
3A (4th Team)
– Best Batsman: Suhail Rana
– Best Bowler: Abdul Aziz Slamdien
Photo supplied First Team squad receiving the Team of the Year Award