Cape Town - After much debate and head scratching, the Sport24 team have announced their Performers, Plonkers and Pictures of the month for February 2010.

Click HERE to cast your vote - and WIN!

Every month the Sport24 editorial team will announce nominations for a sportsperson or team (people who stole the limelight with a specific performance that month), a plonker (a team or person who has not covered themselves in glory) and a sports photo of the month (the one that makes you go "Ahhh"). You then get a chance to vote for the person, team and picture that best deserves the award...

So without further ado, then, the February nominations are...

PERFORMANCE:

Narrowing down the nominations for the February star of the month proved tricky with several candidates returning performances worthy of recognition.

Hashim Amla
A quite superlative Test series in India for the KwaZulu-Natalian No 3 batsman, who rattled up 490 runs over the two encounters and was only dismissed once – it made him a sure-fire choice for player of the series. First he made a personal best 253 not out at Nagpur, then followed it up with 114 and 123 not out in the second Test at Kolkata.

Gavin Hunt
The former Hellenic right-back took his coaching reputation to new heights when he steered SuperSport United to the Absa Premiership title for the third time in as many years – again doing wonders with a not-exactly-juggernaut squad and reinforcing the view that he ought to be given a crack with Bafana at some stage.

Dale Steyn
South Africa’s Test spearhead earned career-best innings figures in the first Test against India at Nagpur, grabbing a sensational 7/51 (and 10 wickets in the match, which the Proteas won) to demolish the hosts’ first knock: his sustained burst of in-swing and reverse-swing bowling will long be remembered by all who witnessed it.

Alviro Petersen
Only introduced to the Test side for his debut at short notice, the Proteas opening batsman scored a dream 100, on the nail, in the first innings of the second Test against India at Kolkata. He helped Hashim Amla post 209 for the second wicket -- which would have been the foundation for a (probably series-securing) massive total but for a fatal collapse by the rest of the order to 296 all out from 218 for two.

Chris Bertish
South Africa’s fearless big-wave surfing icon secured a record-purse US$50 000 by winning the much-hyped 2009/10 Mavericks Surf Contest in Northern California this month. A crowd estimated at some 50 000 watched the climax, in what were described as some of the biggest waves ever for a paddle-in surf event. Shot, bru.

PLONKERS:

And in the not so serious plonker category... Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the biggest plonker of them all?

Steven Pienaar
The Bafana Bafana and Everton midfield dynamo went from hero to zero in a few hours this month: first he helped the Toffees to a famous 3-1 Premiership victory over champions Manchester United, but then he was pulled over in the “afterglow” by Merseyside police – um, Liverpool fans maybe? -- and charged with drunk driving.

Sharks crowd
It is one thing to be irate when refereeing decisions consistently irk you, but quite another to take out your frustrations in the form of boorish behaviour against a visiting player. But that’s what happened at Absa Stadium when elements in the crowd threw missiles on two occasions at Chiefs flyhalf Stephen Donald as he teed up kicks at the posts in the Vodacom Super 14 match.

Teko Modise
The Orlando Pirates midfielder, whose star has waned a little in recent months after he was once considered a key element of Bafana Bafana’s plans, blotted his copybook badly by going AWOL before the Absa Premiership derby against arch-rivals Kaiser Chiefs in Soweto. He later apologised to the Bucs fans for his fit of pique …

SARU
Another day, another added fixture to the Springbok rugby schedule: we learnt late last month that the Boks would be playing an additional Test against Wales in early June – a once-off affair just a week after the Super 14 final. It smacked of pure greed, considering that South Africa play the same opponents at year’s end anyway, when they embark on a Grand Slam tour. If they’re not dead by then …

Lions
It could only happen to the dear old Auto and General Lions! If you’d ventured beforehand that they’d score 65 points against last season’s Super 14 runners-up the Chiefs, you’d probably have been dismissed as loony. If you’d also said they’d score 65 points and LOSE 72-65, you would have been institutionalised. And yet … it happened.

PHOTOS:

In a bid to deservedly salute the photographers doing the hard graft on the sidelines. Sport24 have put together a gallery of the "Best of the Best" pictures of the month of February. They're guaranteed to leave you speechless. Click HERE to view our selection of the: Best of the best pictures

Reader voting

Readers monthly votes will decide the 12 finalists in each category, and it is from those 12 finalists that Sport24 will decide their Star, Plonker and Picture of the Year in December.