Dan’s The Man

Jos Buttler’s brief reign at the top of the leader board for this year’s Walter Lawrence Trophy has been ended by Middlesex’s Dan Christian, who smacked a 46-ball hundred on June 6.

Sydney-born Christian, who joined Middlesex this season, hit 9 fours and 8 sixes in his century against Kent in the NatWest T20 Blast game at Canterbury. However, despite his scintillating innings of 129 from 57 balls, which earned him the Player of the Match award, The Panthers failed to chase down a total of 208 by 16 runs.

The 31-year-old all-rounder has represented three State sides in Australia, as well as playing in 19 One-Day Internationals and 15 T20 Internationals for his country.

Now in its 80th year, the Walter Lawrence Trophy, awarded for the fastest hundred of the season, is open to all domestic county competitions as well as One-Day Internationals, Twenty20 Internationals and Test Matches in England.

VIDEO:Kent Spitfires v Middlesex Panthers, NatWest T20 Blast, 6June14

Kent v Middlesex scorecard

Dan Christian’s career statistics

Queen Edwards

England and Kent captain Charlotte Edwards is the early leader for this season’s Walter Lawrence Women’s Award with a score of 129 for her county side against Yorkshire Women. The 34-year-old opener hit 15 fours and 1 six in her innings, made from 140 balls, in the Royal London Women’s One-Day Cup, Division One match at Upchurch CC on May 4.

Making her debut for England at the age of 16 and taking over the captaincy in 2005, Edwards’ glittering career goes from strength to strength. Charlotte’s umpteen highlights and honours include: leading England to World Cup victory and being made an MBE in 2009; named ECB Women’s Cricketer of the Year and being chosen as one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year in 2014, after skippering England to back-to-back Ashes successes against Australia; being made a CBE in June. She has played in 21 Tests, 178 One-Day Internationals and 78 T20 Internationals.

Great Breton

Leading the way in the hunt for this year’s Walter Lawrence MCC Universities award is Tim le Breton of Loughborough MCCU. Le Breton, batting at no. 9, hit a remarkable, unbeaten 112 against Oxford MCCU at The Haslegrave Ground, Loughborough on April 16. The 20-year-old Blackburn-born right-hander’s innings included 15 fours and 3 sixes off 137 balls in the 2-day drawn game.

The quartet of Walter Lawrence Trophy awards, supported by Veuve Clicquot, 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; The Walter Lawrence Women’s Award for the batsman who makes the highest individual score in a season from the Royal London Women’s One-Day Cup, the ECB Women’s County T20 Cup and all England Women’s matches played on home soil, and, finally, the Walter Lawrence Schools Award for the highest score by a school batsman against MCC.