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Rewarding season for Puttick

Cape Town - The reward as Western Province’s one-day player of the year brought the curtain down on one of Andrew Puttick’s most rewarding limited-over seasons since making his debut for the Cape side 15 years ago.

Puttick edged his colleague Robin Peterson for the trophy at a glittering function at WPCC’s Sports Centre in Rondebosch last Saturday.

Peterson was the leading wicket-taker in the 50-over competition, grabbing 18 scalps as left-arm spinner.

The left-handed opener Puttick scored 652 runs at an average of 72.44 in the One Day Cup competition in 2014/2015.

Puttick, Peterson and Dean Elgar were also nominated for Cricket South Africa’s One Day Player of the Year awards. The awards-function will take place in Johannesburg on June3.

Some of the keys to his amazing consistency was that Puttick never seemed anxious, fretted, suffered a rush of blood or attempted to force the pace unnecessarily in the 2014/2015-competition.

He admitted that Richard Levi proved to be a perfect foil for him.

The two had a good understanding and their astute running between the wickets, as well as Puttick’s decision not to try and emulate the explosive Levi, contributed to his success.

While Levi favours the leg-side, but could also blossom past point, Puttick is strong square of the wicket on both sides, loves the cover-driving and also uses the slog sweep to the proverbial cow-corner to excel.

“It is difficult to explain why I did so well. I prepared very well, and I started off soundly in the first game. Thereafter things fell into place,” he added.

Amazingly, Puttick struck a century and seven half-centuries in the campaign.

The left-hander said cricket has changed enormously since he made his first-class debut in 2000/2001 alongside Graeme Smith.

He said the bat he used during his maiden first-class season was like a tooth-pick compared to the one he plays with currently.

“We attempted to keep the ball on the ground then. Now the guys deliberately take the aerial route.

“Back then, I mostly deflected the ball and flicked it with the wrists.

“The edges of the bats were very thin then, but it is no longer the case. You have to possess very strong wrists, hands and forearms to play the game now,” he added.

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