The mantlepiece is getting pretty crowded at TOM BRUCE's place, with our 2023 Central Stags Player of the Year and Players' Player of the Year receiving a third award last night.

Bruce took home the first two trophies in March, at CD's annual awards evening in Napier - celebrations originally inked in to coincide with the scheduled end of the 2022/23 Domestic season.

However, Cyclone Gabrielle forced late changes to the Stags' playing schedule. Both The Ford Trophy Grand Final and the last match of the first-class Plunket Shield were ultimately rescheduled to the weeks after the night of the CD Awards.

With the Plunket Shield comprising just eight matches, and a number of players enjoying a special season, it was therefore decided to wait until the after the last match to determine the winner of the 2023 Plunket Shield Player of the Season award.

As it turned out, Bruce didn't get to play in that last Plunket Shield match himself, due to his concurrent selection as New Zealand A captain for the home series against Australia A in early April.

Yet despite hot competition from his teammates - who finished off a title-winning campaign with their fifth outright of the season, Bruce's overall class had shone through again, and he now finds himself holding three individual season awards for the summer: Plunket Shield Player of the Year; Player's Player; and overall Central Stags Player of the Year - for the second year running, having also won this very same trifecta in 2021/22.

Plunket Shield Player of the Year TOM BRUCE and Ford Trophy Player of the Year BRETT RANDELL received their trophies at a special function this week | MBUTCHER

Bruce was presented with his award at a belated leaving function for former Central Stags Head Coach ROB WALTER - who left his role in February after having been appointed as the new white-ball Head Coach of South Africa.

His successor will inherit a champion team holding two of the three Domestic men's trophies in New Zealand.

Bruce finished the 2022/23 first-class Plunket Shield as the New Zealand's third highest runscorer across all teams, 705 runs from 12 innings. He backed up his previous summer's century-scoring feats with another two first-class centuries as well as four half centuries, including a big knock of 169 for a season average of 70.50.

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As his own team's top run-scorer, he also stepped in to captain the Stags' red-ball squad for the first half of the campaign after a broken bone sidelined regular skipper GREG HAY, just before the start of the competition.

Bruce's dependable form and maturity as a 31-year-old leader in the side contributed to some memorable partnerships across the season - particularly with Hay in an extraordinary last-day chase at Mount Maunganui. He also ensured the Stags maintained a steady course through comings and goings and curve balls, as they pulled together a special campaign.

Also on Bruce's mantlepiece is the 2021/22 NZC Award for Domestic Player of the Season (which he shared with Auckland Robbie O'Donnell) and previous awards for outstanding white-ball summers with the Stags so Bruce may need a new house with a bigger mantlepiece soon.

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Article added: Friday 19 May 2023