Sam & Dan Share Top Billing!

Kent’s Sam Billings and Middlesex’s Dan Christian are joint-winners of this year’s Walter Lawrence Trophy, awarded for the fastest hundred of the season, with both men having scored 46-ball centuries.

Billings, a product of Loughborough MCCU, made his dashing hundred in the Royal London One-Day Cup match against Somerset at Taunton on July 31. Coming in at number seven the 23-year-old Pembury-born wicket-keeper, who has been voted Kent’s Player of the Year for this season, spanked 12 fours and 4 sixes in his century, going on to finish unbeaten on 135, made off 58 balls.

Earlier in the season, Sydney-born Christian hit 9 fours and 8 sixes in his hundred against Kent in the NatWest T20 Blast game at Canterbury on June 6. The 31-year-old all-rounder has represented three State sides in Australia, and played in 19 One-Day Internationals and 15 T20 Internationals for his country.

Billings and Christian are the fourth pair in the competition’s history to share the award, which they will receive, along with prize money of £3,000, at the Walter Lawrence Trophy Presentation Dinner in The Long Room at Lord’s on November 6.

Now in its 80th 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.

Somerset v Kent scorecard
Sam Billings’ career statistics

VIDEO:Somerset v Kent, Royal London One-Day Cup, 31July14

Kent v Middlesex scorecard
Dan Christian’s career statistics

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

Nat Pips Her ‘Skip’

Natalie Sciver has pipped her England captain, Charlotte Edwards, to claim the 2014 Walter Lawrence Women’s Award, which is won by the batsman who makes the highest individual score in a season. The 22-year-old hit 154 off 151 balls for Surrey Women against Nottinghamshire Women in the Royal London Women’s One-Day Cup game at Reed’s School Ground, Cobham on July 20. Her score, which included 22 fours and 1 six, represented almost 64 per cent of her team’s total as Surrey held on to win by 7 runs. Charlotte Edwards had previously been in pole position with a score of 151 – one of three centuries she made during the season.

Natalie, who was born in Tokyo and lived in Poland between the ages of 6 and 9, has represented England at Test, One-Day International and T20 International level and is regarded as a big hitting all-rounder with a bright future.

Natalie is the third winner of the Walter Lawrence Women’s Award since it was introduced and wins a silver medallion and a cheque for £500, which she will receive at the Walter Lawrence Trophy Presentation Dinner in The Long Room at Lord’s on November 6.

Rob Wraps Up Another Durham Win

The Walter Lawrence MCC Universities Award winner for 2014 is Durham’s opening batsman Rob Gibson. His innings of 118, the highest against one of the other five MCCUs or against one of the first-class counties, was achieved on the final day of the 2-day Championship, against Cardiff MCCU at Usk CC on June 13.

Replying to Cardiff’s impressive total of 423-7, the 20-year-old right-hander shared an opening stand of 167 and then 61 before being adjudged lbw. Gibson’s 118, scored off 217 balls and including 15 fours, provided a platform for Durham to draw the game and finish on 348 for 8.

Born in Emsworth and educated at Portsmouth Grammar School, Gibson also bowls leg-breaks and played regularly for Hampshire Second XI last season.

A sports degree student, Gibson is the third Durham MCCU player in four seasons to win the prestigious Award, following in the footsteps of 2011 winner Somerset’s Chris Jones and last season’s recipient Ivo Hobson. He will receive a special silver medallion and prize of £500 at the Walter Lawrence Trophy Presentation Dinner in The Long Room at Lord’s on November 6.

Mark Of A Champion

Mark Eteen, with an unbeaten 147, is the winner of this year’s Walter Lawrence Schools Award, for the highest score by a school batsman against MCC.

With The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, needing a total of 246 to win on June 18, Eteen produced a monumental innings of clean hitting, which included 22 fours and 1 six, taking the game to the last over before losing agonisingly to MCC by 1 run. Eteen, who averaged over 90 this season, now holds the record for the most centuries scored at the school, 9, including 4 for the First XI.

Mark is the fourth winner of the Schools Award and will receive a special medallion and a Gray-Nicolls cricket bat at the Walter Lawrence Trophy Presentation Dinner in The Long Room at Lord’s on November 6.

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 County Championship, 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.