Jonny In Scottish Run-Fest

Jonny Bairstow’s 54-ball hundred for England against Scotland on June 10 was the fastest of the season and propels him into top-spot for this year’s Walter Lawrence Trophy.

In a one-off, One-Day International at The Grange, Edinburgh, Bairstow, together with Jason Roy, put on an opening stand of 129 as England attempted to chase down the Scots’ record total of 371 for 5. Bairstow’s century, which included 12 fours and 6 sixes, was his third consecutive ODI hundred, becoming the first England player to achieve the feat, and was the third fastest by an England player. He fell shortly after for 105, leaving his side in a healthy position and comfortably ahead of the 7.5 runs per over asking rate.

However, despite the 29-year-old Yorkshireman’s fireworks, the visitors fell 6 runs short of their target, much to the delight of the sell-out home crowd of 4,600, who saw their side’s first victory over England, the newly ranked no.1 in ODIs.

Jonny Bairstow is now a key player for England, consistently dependable in all three formats of the game, and is currently the Test team’s wicket-keeper.

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.

Scotland v England scorecard
Jonny Bairstow’s career statistics


Nat The Superbat

England all-rounder, Nat Sciver leads the chase for this year’s Walter Lawrence Women’s Award after scoring an awesome 180 not out, off just 98 balls, for Surrey Women against Derbyshire Women at Spondon CC on May 27. In the ECB Women’s County Championship, Division 2 match, her whirlwind knock, which included 33 fours and 1 six, set up a crushing 354-run win, in which she also took 3 wickets for 6 runs.

The Tokyo-born 25-year-old, who won the Walter Lawrence Women’s Award in 2014, has become one of the world’s great women’s players and, along with two of her 2017 World-Cup-winning team mates, was named one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of The Year.

Azad’s Ascent

Hasan Azad is the new leader in the quest for this year’s MCC Universities Award, having scored an unbeaten 204 for Loughborough MCCU against Oxford MCCU at Haselgrave on May 23. His innings, scored off 344 balls and including 24 fours and 3 sixes, paved the way for his team’s emphatic innings and 184-run victory.

Born in Karachi, the 24-year-old left-handed batsman has also represented Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire 2nd XI and Pakistan Under-15s.

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.