Charlotte Edwards has claimed yet another first as she joined Ben Duckett and Keaton Jennings as the three playing award winners at the Cricket Writers’ Club’s 70th anniversary lunch.
Edwards was named the inaugural winner of the CWC’s Women’s Cricket Award, with Jennings the fifth recipient of the County Championship Player of the Year Award, and Duckett joining the long list of distinguished names to have received the CWC Young Player of the Year Award – which was first presented to Lancashire’s Roy Tattersall in 1950.
The CWC marked its 70 th anniversary by introducing a new annual award to recognise the importance of women’s and girls’ cricket, and Edwards was chosen by a panel chaired by Alison Mitchell of the BBC.
“Charlotte Edwards has spent much of her career breaking new ground so she is a highly appropriate first winner,” said Mitchell.
“She began the year as England captain - a post she’d held for a decade. She led her country to the semi-final of the World T20 in India and finished as England's leading run scorer, and the tournament’s second highest scorer overall.
“She then lost the England captaincy, a decision that prompted her to retire from international cricket after more than 300 senior games for her country. Yet far from calling time on her career, Edwards captained three sides to a unique domestic treble in leading Kent to the 50-over and T20 county titles, and the Southern Vipers to victory in the inaugural Kia Super League.”
Absolutely loved the last few months with the @VipersKSL , yesterday was a very special day!! #champions #mumsarmy pic.twitter.com/JwMGAQCO3w
— Charlotte Edwards (@Lottie2323) August 22, 2016
Jennings became the first Durham player to win the County Championship Player of the Year Award, supported by William Hill, since it was introduced in 2012 – ending two years of Yorkshire domination of the CWC awards, as Adam Lyth and Jonny Bairstow have won the Championship award, with Alex Lees and Jack Leaning recognised in the Young Player category.
The 24-year-old left-handed opener, who was born in South Africa but has been selected for the Lions this winter after qualifying for England earlier this year, was the leading run-scorer in either division with 1,548 at an average of 64.5 with seven centuries.
How to get to your SEVENTH of the season if you're run machine @JetJennings ? Reverse sweep, of course #class pic.twitter.com/5i9Nh7VvhR
— County Championship (@CountyChamp) September 12, 2016
Duckett became Northamptonshire’s first winner of the CWC Young Player of the Year award since Rob Bailey in 1984, after a golden summer in which he scored double centuries for his county and for England Lions, and played a key part in a second NatWest T20 Blast triumph in four years for the Steelbacks – leading to his selection in England’s Test and one-day squads for the forthcoming tour of Bangladesh.
Just the 2,619 runs across all formats for @BenDuckett1 in 2016. Here's his latest double
https://t.co/M8dPGuppWz— County Championship (@CountyChamp) September 8, 2016
The award, which by tradition is won just once in a career, is restricted to England-qualified players who were under the age of 23 on May 1. Previous winners have amassed more than 2,500 Test caps between them.