The winner of this year’s Walter Lawrence Trophy, awarded for the fastest century of the season, is England’s Phil Salt, who scored a record-breaking 39-ball hundred against South Africa in the Second T20 International at Old Trafford on September 12. The 29-year-old opener’s stunning century was the fastest by an England batsman in T20 Internationals, and his final score of 141 not out was the highest in T20Is by an England player, eclipsing his 119 v West Indies in 2023, which was the previous highest. Salt is also the England scorer of the fourth and sixth highest innings!

On a night that saw records tumbling, South Africa won the toss and asked England to bat, a decision they were soon to rue as Salt and Jos Buttler thrashed the bowling with some incendiary batting. The pair had pummelled 126 runs when Buttler fell on 80, off just 30 balls, in the seventh over  but Salt, along with Jacob Bethell and Harry Brook, continued the onslaught to post a total of 304 for 2. Salt’s 39-ball hundred included 13 fours and 5 sixes, and his unbeaten 141, scored off 60 balls, included 15 fours and 8 sixes. It was England’s highest total in T20Is and, as South Africa subsided in their chase to 158 all out, their largest margin of victory, 146 runs, in T20Is.

The Welsh-born wicket-keeper/batsman attended school in Chester, and at the age of 10 his family moved to Barbados, returning to England five years later. There he won a scholarship to play cricket at Reed School in Surrey and joined the county’s academy. In 2013 Salt played for Guildford CC and then joined Sussex, where his aggressive batting in the leagues caught the eye. He made his one-day debut in the Royal London One-Day Cup in 2015 against Essex and his first-class debut came in July, 2016 for Sussex against Pakistan. All the while his reputation in the white-ball game gathered momentum and eventually he was called up for the England squad in 2019. However, he was made to wait for his debut, which eventually arrived on July 8, 2021 against Pakistan. Since then, Salt has racked up 33 One-Day International and 47 T20 International appearances, prior to England’s tour of New Zealand. He was part of the England team that won the  2022  ICC T20 World Cup and made history after scoring two consecutive centuries in T20Is against West Indies. In first-class cricket he has scored 2,770 runs (avge, 35.28) with 6 hundreds and 14 fifties.

Salt moved from Sussex to Lancashire in 2022 and his fearsome ball-striking has seen him representing an impressive list of teams around the globe including Manchester Originals, Barbados Tridents, Adelaide Strikers, Kolkata Knight Riders, Lahore Qalanders, Delhi Capitals, Desert Vipers, Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Pretoria Capitals, Islamabad United,  Royal Challengers and Dambulla Giants.

The Walter Lawrence Trophy, now in its 91^st year, is open to all domestic county competitions as well as One-Day Internationals, T20 Internationals, The Hundred and Test matches in England. Along with the Trophy, Phil will receive £2,500 plus a special medallion at the Walter Lawrence Trophy Presentation Dinner in the Long Room at Lord’s on November 5.

LAUREN LAUNCHES A WINNER!

Lauren Winfield-Hill  is the winner of the Walter Lawrence Women’s Award, for the player who makes the highest individual score in a season from ECB domestic cup games and all England Women’s matches played on home soil. Captaining Yorkshire Women, she stormed her way to the Award with a massive innings of 194 in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup, League 2 match at Canterbury against Kent on August 30. Yorkshire Women were put in to bat  and Winfield-Hill, opening the innings, hammered the Kent attack, propelling her team to a total of 404 for 5. Lauren’s 194 came off 126 balls and included 34 fours and a six. Kent’s reply crumpled to a total of 125 all out as Yorkshire Women cruised to victory by 279 runs.

The York-born, 35 year-old wicket-keeper/batter, is a highly experienced cricketer, who has enjoyed particular success in the short-form game. She has played in 5 Tests, 55 One-Day Internationals and 44 T20 Internationals for England. In addition to Yorkshire, Lauren has played for The Oval Invincibles, The Northern Superchargers, The Diamonds, Amazons, Perth Scorchers, Melbourne Stars, Guyana Amazon Warriors, Brisbane Heat and Super Women. Playing for the Northern Diamonds, she was named as Player of the Year in the 2022 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy as the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 470 runs at an average of 78.30, and again the leading run-scorer in the  2023 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, with 663 runs at an average of 51.00.

Lauren’s winning score is the second-highest since the inception of the Walter Lawrence Women’s Award in 2012, Tammy Beaumont’s 208 for England against Australia in 2023 being the highest. Lauren will receive £2,500 plus a special medallion at the Walter Lawrence Trophy Presentation Dinner in the Long Room at Lord’s on November 5.