Published: Sep 26, 2015, 08:12 AM (IST)
Edited: Sep 26, 2015, 08:25 AM (IST)
England wicketkeeper batsman Jonny Bairstow has been nominated for the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) Player of the Year Award along with the likes of Ashwell Prince, Matt Coles and Chris Rushworth. The annual PCA awards, which are voted for by the county cricketers will be distributed at a ceremony in London on Tuesday, September 29. Bairstow featured in Yorkshire’s 100-run victory over Sussex in their last match of the season and was also a member of the victorious England squad during the Ashes 2015. The Bardford-born glovesman had made an emphatic return to the side with a gritty half-century in the final game One-Day International (ODI) against New Zealand to help England complete a 3-2 series win.
Former South African batsman Prince bid goodbye to all forms of cricket as Lancashire settled for a draw against Essex in their match at the County Ground in Chelmsford, also finishing as the second-highest run-getter in the First-Class format in this year’s championship with a tally of 1,478 runs at an average of 68.01. The top-order batsman struck 51 off 38 balls in his final innings as Lancashire accumulated 11 points from the game compared to Essex’s 12, though they finished second in Division Two and have thus been promoted to the first division for the next county season. Both Bairstow and Prince will lift the Reg Hayter Cup, the trophy awarded to the recipient of the PCA Player of the Year Award.
Among the other awards are the PCA Young Player of the Year Award, for which Surrey’s Tom Curran has been nominated. Tom, son of the late Zimbabwean Kevin Curran, shared all 10 wickets of the second innings with brother Sam during Northamptonshire’s first innings.
