Taylor-made for England?

Nottinghamshire’s James Taylor has hit the front in the race for this year’s Walter Lawrence Trophy, awarded for the fastest hundred of the season, with a 71-ball century.

The exciting 22-year-old England prospect thumped 7 fours and 5 sixes in his hundred as The Outlaws beat The Hampshire Royals by 12 runs in the Clydesdale Bank 40 match at The Rose Bowl, Southampton on May 31st. Sharing a fifth-wicket stand of 142 in 13.2 overs, Taylor finished the Notts innings with an unbeaten 115, blasting 90 runs off his last 32 balls.

Voted Young Player of The Year in 2009, Taylor is a dashing middle-order batsman and an electric fielder, who has represented England U.19s, England Lions and the senior side in one One-day International.

Now in its 78th year, the Walter Lawrence Trophy is open to all domestic county competitions as well as One-Day Internationals, Twenty20 Internationals and Test Matches in England.

Hampshire v Nottinghamshire scorecard

James Taylor’s career statistics


Coleman’s Mustard!

The new leader in this year’s Walter Lawrence MCC Universities award is Freddie Coleman, who scored 141 for Oxford MCCU against Durham MCCU at The Racecourse on April 28. The 20-year-old Scot, who has played for his country, hit 14 fours and 1 six in his innings, which was scored off 275 balls.


Here Come The Girls

This season the trustees of the Walter Lawrence Trophy, supported by Veuve Clicquot, are delighted to announce the launch of a new award for the women’s game.

The award will go to the batsman who makes the highest individual score in a season from the ECB Women’s County Championship, the ECB Women’s County T20 Cup and all England Women’s matches played on home soil. The winner will receive a cheque for £1,000 as well as an engraved silver medallion and an invitation to the traditional Walter Lawrence Trophy end-of-season presentation dinner in the Long Room at Lord’s.

Charlotte Horton has set a stunning target in this season’s new Walter Lawrence award for the women’s game with an unbeaten 177 for Derbyshire Women against Northamptonshire Women. The 26-year-old opener hit 28 fours and 1 six in her innings, scored off 157 balls, helping her side to an 83-run victory in the LV Women’s County Championship, Division Three, match at Derby on May 6.

This new initiative completes a quartet of Walter Lawrence Trophy awards, supported by Veuve Clicquot, which encompass four distinct areas of the game: the Walter Lawrence Trophy, for the fastest century of the season; the MCC Universities award for the highest score by a batsman from the six MCC Universities against the first-class counties or in the MCCU Championship, and the Walter Lawrence Schools Award launched last season for the highest score by a school batsman against MCC.