The Cricket Writers' Club County Championship Player of the Year is an annual cricket award, presented to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the year in the County Championship, England's first-class cricket competition. The award has been presented since the 2012 season and the winner is chosen by a vote amongst the members of the Cricket Writers' Club,[1] an association open to "recognised correspondents of newspapers and periodicals and on radio and television".[2] Any male player competing in the County Championship is eligible.[1]
Nick Compton was the first recipient of the award in 2012,[3] and is one of eight winners to have been recognised for their batting exploits: the only bowlers to have won the award were Jamie Porter in 2017, Simon Harmer in 2019 and Luke Fletcher in 2021. Harmer is also one of only two non-English players to have won, along with his South African compatriot Wayne Madsen. Players representing Essex have won the award three times, those from Durham and Yorkshire have won it twice, while no other county has been represented more than once. The most recent winner is Alex Lees, whose 1,347 runs helped Durham to win the Division Two title of the 2023 County Championship.[4]
For six of the 12 seasons that the award has been given, the Cricket Writers' Club County Championship Player of the Year has also been named one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year. Three of the winners also claimed awards voted on by the members of the Professional Cricketers' Association (the players' trade union) in the same season;[5] Compton and Lyth won the PCA Player of the Year award in 2012 and 2014, while in 2017, Porter won the PCA Young Player of the Year.
The 2020 award was given for performances in the Bob Willis Trophy, which replaced the County Championship for the shortened 2020 season caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.
Winners
edit| Year | Player | Nationality | Club | Other awards that year[a][6][7][8] | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Nick Compton |  England |
Somerset | Wisden Cricketer of the Year PCA Player of the Year |
Scored 1,191 runs | [3] |
| 2013 | Wayne Madsen |  South Africa[b] |
Derbyshire | Scored 1,221 runs | [11] | |
| 2014 | Adam Lyth | England |
Yorkshire | Wisden Cricketer of the Year PCA Player of the Year |
Scored 1,489 runs | [12] |
| 2015 | Jonny Bairstow | England |
Yorkshire | Wisden Cricketer of the Year | Scored 1,108 runs | [13] |
| 2016 | Keaton Jennings | England |
Durham | Scored 1,548 runs | [14] | |
| 2017 | Jamie Porter | England |
Essex | Wisden Cricketer of the Year PCA Young Player of the Year |
Took 75 wickets | [15] |
| 2018 | Rory Burns | England |
Surrey | Wisden Cricketer of the Year | Scored 1,359 runs | [16] |
| 2019 | Simon Harmer | South Africa |
Essex | Wisden Cricketer of the Year | Took 83 wickets | [17] |
| 2020 | Alastair Cook | England |
Essex | Scored 563 runs | [18] | |
| 2021 | Luke Fletcher | England |
Nottinghamshire | Took 66 wickets | [19] | |
| 2022 | Keith Barker | England |
Hampshire | Took 52 wickets Scored 595 runs |
[20] | |
| 2023 | Alex Lees | England |
Durham | Scored 1,347 runs | [4] |
Notes
edit- ^ Note that Wisden Cricketers of the Year are awarded for the previous year. For the purposes of this list, being named Cricket Writers' Club County Championship Player of the Year in 2012 is equivalent to being named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2013.
- ^ At the time of his award, Madsen was only eligible to play for his native South Africa.[9] He later gained British citizenship and became eligible to play for England.[10]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Cricket Writers' Club Awards". Cricket Writers' Club. Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ Bannister, Alex (2 October 2006). "Cricket Writers' Club". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ a b "Duo win awards". Sky Sports. 17 September 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ a b "Harry Brook and Nat Sciver-Brunt claim top Cricket Writers' Club awards". BBC Sport. 27 November 2023. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
- ^ "Media advisory: cricket awards". Sports Journalists' Association. 30 September 2009. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ "Wisden Cricketers of the Year". Wisden. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ "NatWest PCA Players' Player of the Year". Professional Cricketers' Association. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ "NatWest PCA Young Player of the Year". Professional Cricketers' Association. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ Wilson, Andy (30 September 2013). "Ben Stokes of Durham named as young cricketer of the year". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ "Wayne Madsen: Ex-Derbyshire captain has England call-up in mind". BBC Sport. 14 April 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ "Ben Stokes and Wayne Madsen take Cricket Writers Club awards". BBC Sport. 1 October 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ "Yorkshire: Adam Lyth and Alex Lees win Cricket Writers' awards". BBC Sport. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ "Jonny Bairstow named 'Player of the Year' by Cricket Writers' Club". Cricket Country. Agence France-Presse. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ "Cricket writers' 2016 awards for Ben Duckett, Keaton Jennings and Charlotte Edwards". The Guardian. 27 September 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ "Dan Lawrence, Jamie Porter and Tammy Beaumont win at Cricket Writers' Club awards". BBC Sport. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ "Surrey: Burns, Curran and Sciver honoured in clean sweep at Writers' Awards". BBC Sport. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ "Tom Banton, Simon Harmer win CWC awards". ESPNcricinfo. 1 October 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ "Zak Crawley, Alastair Cook, Sophie Ecclestone claim 2020 CWC player awards". ESPNcricinfo. 20 October 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
- ^ "Harry Brook named CWC Young Player of Year, Sophia Dunkley wins Women's Award". ESPNcricinfo. 5 October 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
- ^ "Bairstow's year to remember recognised by Cricket Writers'". Sports Journalists. 4 October 2022. Retrieved 16 September 2024.