Renshaw The Early Leader

As the new season evolves and the plethora of one-day games is about to begin, the early Walter Lawrence Trophy leader is Matt Renshaw of Somerset, who scored an 88-ball hundred in the County Championship victory against Yorkshire at Taunton on April 27.

The 22-year-old opener, who, ironically, was born in Yorkshire and holds a British passport, moved to New Zealand at the age of 7 and then, aged 10, to Australia where he made his Test debut for the Aussies against South Africa in 2016. Renshaw was signed as overseas player by Somerset in April as a replacement for Cameron Bancroft following his suspension in the ball-tampering debacle.

Now in its 84th 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, T20 Internationals and Test Matches in England.

Somerset v Yorkshire scorecard
Matt Renshaw’s career statistics


Tenacious Teen Ellie

Sixteen-year-old Ellie Mitchell of Cornwall Women has swept into the lead for this year’s Walter Lawrence Women’s Award with a blistering innings of 158 not out. Sharing in an opening partnership of 300 with Caitlin Burnett, Ellie’s innings, which contained 14 fours and was scored off 157 balls, proved decisive as her team beat Wiltshire Women by a whopping 276 runs in the ECB Division 3 match at Newquay on May 13.

Ellie overtook the season’s early leader, New Zealand captain Suzie Bates, who had posted a score of 148 for Hampshire Women six days earlier.

Having started playing cricket at 10 years old at Helston CC, Ellie continued through their under-11, 13 and 15 age groups and was selected for the Cornwall under-13 girls team at 11 years old and has been representing the county ever since. She has also played for Redruth CC and was selected for the Kia Super League, Western Storm development squad last year.

Smokin’ Joe

Joe Ludlow has set the pace in pursuit of the MCC Universities Award this year, with a knock of 155 for Cardiff against Leeds/Bradford. The 20-year-old smote 17 fours in his innings, off 258 balls, sharing in a 2nd-wicket stand of 224 with Harry Allen in the game at Weetwood on May 1st .

Born in Sidcup, Kent, Ludlow made his first-class debut the season against Gloucestershire, and has also represented Bedfordshire.



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 ECB Women’s One-Day 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.