The Walter Lawrence Trophy is an annual award made to the player who has scored the fastest century in English domestic county cricket that season, in terms of balls received (not counting wides). Hundreds are considered by a panel of experts which, as of 2020, comprise

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and John Barclay. Those which are adjudged to have been made against declaration bowling are not eligible for the award, although this restriction was not always observed in former years. , the recipient of the Walter Lawrence Trophy is also presented with a cheque for £2,500. The trophy was instituted in 1934 by Sir Walter Lawrence, a builder and cricket enthusiast from Hertfordshire, the first recipient being

Frank Woolley Frank Edward Woolley (27 May 1887 – 18 October 1978) was an English professional cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club between 1906 and 1938 and for the England cricket team. A genuine all-rounder, Woolley was a left-handed batsman ...

. At this stage in its history, the criterion was the time taken to score a hundred rather than the number of balls faced. The award was made every season up to and including 1939 when Lawrence died. When first class cricket resumed in 1945 after the Second World War, Lawrence's son Guy left the presentation of the Trophy in abeyance. It was finally re-instated by Guy's son-in-law, Brian Thornton for the 1966 season. The recipient was then the player who had scored the fastest

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century in terms of balls faced, at home or away, in the calendar year. The 1970 award was made to

Geoffrey Boycott Sir Geoffrey Boycott (born 21 October 1940) is a former Test cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's m ...

for "the most meritorious innings of the England v The

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series", but in 1971 the original version of the award was restored. Since 1985, the trophy has been decided in terms of balls faced rather than minutes spent at the

crease Crease may refer to: * A line (geometry) or mark made by folding or doubling any pliable substance * Crease (band), American hard rock band that formed in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in 1994 * Crease pattern, origami diagram type that consists of all ...

. University games were eligible for the trophy until 1995 and from 2001 to 2003. Until 2007, only first-class centuries could qualify for the award, but eligibility was widened in 2008 to include limited overs cricket.

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became the first man to win the trophy under these new conditions by scoring a 44-ball hundred in a

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match. Matches involving individual university sides (i.e. University Centre of Cricketing Excellence matches and the

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) are excluded, although games involving the combined British Universities team are eligible. Three other variants of the Walter Lawrence Trophy are also awarded annually: Walter Lawrence Women's Award, Walter Lawrence MCC Universities Award and Walter Lawrence Schools Award. Four batsmen have won the main award on more than one occasion, twice each: Ian Botham, Graham Lloyd, Leslie Ames and

Viv Richards Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (born 7 March 1952) is an Antiguan retired cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Batting generally at number three in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widely ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

have the most winners (8) followed by

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

(6). The winner of the main award for the 2021 English cricket season is

batter

Liam Livingstone Liam Stephen Livingstone (born 4 August 1993) is an English cricketer who plays for Lancashire and England. Livingstone is a right-handed batter and spin bowler, capable of bowling both right-arm leg and off spin. He made his Twenty20 debut for ...

, who struck 100 in 42 balls against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

in the first T20 international match.

Winners

References

External links

* {{featured list Cricket awards and rankings Awards established in 1934 1934 establishments in England