Walter Lawrence Trophy

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).[1] Hundreds are considered by a panel of experts which, as of 2020, comprise Michael Atherton, David Gower, Simon Hughes and John Barclay.[2] 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.[1] As of 2020, the recipient of the Walter Lawrence Trophy is also presented with a cheque for £2,500.[3]

Walter Lawrence Trophy
The Walter Lawrence Trophy
The Walter Lawrence Trophy
Awarded forthe fastest hundred scored in an English season in a first-class innings
CountryEngland
Reward(s)£2,500
First awarded1934
Currently held byLiam Livingstone
Most awardsIan Botham, Graham Lloyd, Leslie Ames, Viv Richards (2)
Websitewww.walterlawrencetrophy.com

The trophy was instituted in 1934 by Sir Walter Lawrence, a builder and cricket enthusiast from Hertfordshire, the first recipient being Frank Woolley. 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.[4] The recipient was then the player who had scored the fastest England Test century in terms of balls faced, at home or away, in the calendar year.[1] The 1970 award was made to Geoffrey Boycott for "the most meritorious innings of the England v The Rest of the World series",[5] 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.[1]

University games were eligible for the trophy until 1995 and from 2001 to 2003.[1] Until 2007, only first-class centuries could qualify for the award, but eligibility was widened in 2008 to include limited overs cricket. Graham Napier became the first man to win the trophy under these new conditions by scoring a 44-ball hundred in a Twenty20 match.[6] Matches involving individual university sides (i.e. University Centre of Cricketing Excellence matches and the Varsity Match) are excluded, although games involving the combined British Universities team are eligible.[1] 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.[1]

Four batsmen have won the main award on more than one occasion, twice each: Ian Botham, Graham Lloyd, Leslie Ames and Viv Richards.[1] Kent have the most winners (8) followed by Somerset (6).[1] The winner of the main award for the 2021 English cricket season is England batter Liam Livingstone, who struck 100 in 42 balls against Pakistan in the first T20 international match.

Winners
Frank Woolley standing with his bat
Frank Woolley was the inaugural winner of the trophy in 1934.
Tom Graveney playing a stroke
Tom Graveney won the award in 1968.
Viv Richards in a white t-shirt and beige shirt
West Indian Viv Richards is one of four players to have won the trophy on two occasions.
Chris Cairns in white cricket shirt
New Zealand batsman Chris Cairns won the award in 1995.
Damien Martyn playing a stroke
Australian Damien Martyn won the trophy in 2003.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore raising his bat in the air
Tom Kohler-Cadmore won the trophy in 2016.
Winners of the Walter Lawrence Trophy[7]
Season Player Time taken For Against Venue Notes
1934 Frank Woolley 63 minutes Kent Northamptonshire Dover [8]
1935 Harold Gimblett 63 minutes Somerset Essex Frome Gimblett's first innings in first-class cricket[5]
1936 Leslie Ames 68 minutes England XI India Folkestone not a Test match[5]
1937 Joe Hardstaff Jr 51 minutes Nottinghamshire Kent Canterbury [4]
1938 Hugh Bartlett 57 minutes Sussex Australians Hove after scoring 4 in the first 14 minutes[4]
1939 Leslie Ames 67 minutes Kent Surrey The Oval [9]
1940 to 1944: no first-class cricket in England
1945 to 1965: Trophy not awarded
Calendar year Balls faced
1966 Ken Barrington 153 balls England Australia Melbourne [9]
1967 Basil D'Oliveira 183 balls England India Leeds [10]
1968 Tom Graveney 174 balls England West Indies Port-of-Spain [10]
1969 Colin Milburn 163 balls England Pakistan Karachi [11]
1970 Geoffrey Boycott 222 balls England Rest of the World The Oval "most meritorious" innings of the series[5]
Season Time taken
1971 Brian Davison 63 minutes Leicestershire Northamptonshire Leicester [4]
1972 Majid Khan 70 minutes Glamorgan Warwickshire Birmingham [4]
1973 Asif Iqbal 72 minutes Kent MCC Canterbury [4]
1974 Garry Sobers 83 minutes Nottinghamshire Derbyshire Ilkeston [12]
1975 Robin Hobbs 44 minutes Essex Australians Chelmsford [5]
1976 Alan Knott 70 minutes Kent Sussex Canterbury [13]
1977 Chris Old 37 minutes Yorkshire Warwickshire Birmingham against "declaration bowling"[5]
1978 Gordon Greenidge 82 minutes Hampshire Glamorgan Southampton [14]
1979 Mike Procter 57 minutes Gloucestershire Northamptonshire Bristol [15]
1980 Viv Richards 66 minutes West Indies Glamorgan Swansea [16]
1981 Sylvester Clarke 62 minutes Surrey Glamorgan Swansea batting at number nine[5]
1982 Ian Botham 52 minutes Somerset Warwickshire Taunton [5]
1983 Steve O'Shaughnessy 35 minutes Lancashire Leicestershire Manchester against "declaration bowling"[5]
1984 Mike Gatting 79 minutes Middlesex Kent Lord's [17]
Balls faced
1985 Ian Botham 50 balls Somerset Warwickshire Birmingham [5]
1986 Viv Richards 48 balls Somerset Glamorgan Taunton [5]
1987 Roland Butcher 73 balls Middlesex Sussex Hove [17]
1988 Graeme Hick 79 balls Worcestershire Surrey The Oval [5]
1989 Darren Bicknell 69 balls Surrey Essex The Oval [4]
1990 Tom Moody 36 balls Warwickshire Glamorgan Swansea against "declaration bowling"[5]
1991 Ian Austin 61 balls Lancashire Yorkshire Scarborough [5]
1992 Martin Speight 62 balls Sussex Lancashire Hove
1993 Paul Johnson 73 balls Nottinghamshire Glamorgan Swansea
Matthew Maynard 73 balls Glamorgan Australians Neath [5]
1994 Ken Rutherford 71 balls New Zealanders Glamorgan Swansea [4]
1995 Chris Cairns 65 balls Nottinghamshire Cambridge U Fenner's [12]
1996 Graham Lloyd 70 balls Lancashire Essex Chelmsford [4]
1997 Graham Lloyd 73 balls Lancashire Leicestershire Leicester [4]
1998 Ali Brown 72 balls Surrey Northamptonshire The Oval award shared[4]
Carl Hooper Kent Worcestershire Canterbury
1999 Andrew Flintoff 61 balls Lancashire Gloucestershire Bristol before lunch on the first day[18]
2000 Darren Lehmann 89 balls Yorkshire Kent Canterbury [19]
2001 Ian Harvey 61 balls Gloucestershire Derbyshire Bristol [4]
2002 Matthew Fleming 66 balls Kent Sri Lankans Canterbury [8]
2003 Damien Martyn 65 balls Yorkshire Gloucestershire Leeds on the last day of the season[20]
2004 Richard Johnson 63 balls Somerset Durham Chester-le-Street at number ten[21]
2005 Ian Blackwell 67 balls Somerset Derbyshire Taunton on the last day of the season[22]
2006 Mark Ealham 45 balls Nottinghamshire MCC Lord's [12]
2007 Marcus North 73 balls Gloucestershire Leicestershire Bristol [4]
2008 Graham Napier 44 balls Essex Sussex Chelmsford [6]
2009 Vikram Solanki 47 balls Worcestershire Glamorgan Worcester [10]
2010 Adam Gilchrist 47 balls Middlesex Kent Canterbury [17]
2011 Kevin O'Brien 44 balls Gloucestershire Middlesex Uxbridge [23]
2012 Scott Styris 37 balls Sussex Gloucestershire Hove 2012 Friends Life t20 Quarter-finals[24]
2013 Darren Stevens 44 balls Kent Sussex Canterbury [25]
2014 Daniel Christian 46 balls Middlesex Kent Canterbury award shared[12][26]
Sam Billings Kent Somerset Taunton
2015 David Willey 40 balls Northamptonshire Sussex Hove [5][11]
2016 Tom Kohler-Cadmore 43 balls Worcestershire Durham Worcester [10]
2017 Shahid Afridi 43 balls Hampshire Derbyshire Derby [27]
2018 Martin Guptill 35 balls Worcestershire Northamptonshire Northampton [27]
2019 Cameron Delport 38 balls Essex Surrey Chelmsford [27]
2020 Joe Clarke 44 balls Nottinghamshire Durham Chester-le-Street [27]
2021 Liam Livingstone 42 balls England Pakistan Nottingham [27]

References
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  2. "Adjudicators". Walter Lawrence Trophy. Archived from the original on 6 July 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  3. "Presentations". Walter Lawrence Trophy. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  4. "Walter Lawrence Trophy". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 3 September 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  5. Oliver, Scott (June 2017). "Triple figures double quick". The Cricket Monthly. Archived from the original on 30 June 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  6. "Napier wins Walter Lawrence Trophy". ESPNcricinfo. 29 September 2008. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016.
  7. "Hall of Fame". Walter Lawrence Trophy. Archived from the original on 6 July 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  8. "Fleming wins the Walter Lawrence Trophy and £5000". ESPNcricinfo. 23 September 2002. Archived from the original on 3 September 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  9. Levison, Brian; Martin-Jenkins, Christopher (20 September 2012). All in a Day's Cricket: An Anthology of Outstanding Cricket Writing. Constable. p. 108. ISBN 978-1472117199. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  10. Berkeley, Geoff (11 November 2016). "Tom Kohler-Cadmore's proud parents collect Walter Lawrence Trophy on his behalf". Redditch & Alcester Advertiser. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  11. "Willey takes Lawrence award for summer's quickest ton". Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph. 28 September 2015. Archived from the original on 3 September 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  12. Bracegirdle, Dave (4 April 2016). "Cambridge MCCU vs Nottinghamshire: Statistical Preview". Trent Bridge. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  13. "A brief history – Kent Country Cricket Club". Kent County Cricket Club. Archived from the original on 20 March 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  14. "Gordon Greenidge...Man in the middle". Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. 22 May 2010. Archived from the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  15. Boycott, Geoffrey (28 May 2009). The Best XI. Penguin. p. 129. ISBN 978-0141037219. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  16. "Vivian Richards – Batting machine". Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. 11 April 2010. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  17. "Gilchrist wins Walter Lawrence Trophy". Lord's. 7 October 2010. Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  18. "Archive – Tuesday, 21 September 1999". Lancashire Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  19. Duncan Hamilton, ed. (25 March 2011). Wisden on Yorkshire: An Anthology. John Wisden & Co Ltd. p. 146. ISBN 978-1408124628. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  20. Randall, Charles (2 October 2003). "Olonga will ply trade at higher pitch". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 29 February 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  21. Pringle, Derek (20 September 2004). "Tale of a summer when England were kings". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  22. "Blackwell smashes fastest hundred of 2005". ESPNcricinfo. 24 September 2005. Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  23. "O'Brien wins Walter Lawrence Trophy". Lord's. 19 October 2011. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  24. "Scott Styris hits equal third-fastest T20 ton as Sussex beat Gloucestershire". BBC Sport. 24 July 2012. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  25. "Knight among Walter Lawrence Trophy winners". Lord's. 8 October 2013. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  26. Lawrence Booth, ed. (9 April 2015). The Shorter Wisden 2015: The Best Writing from Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2015. John Wisden & Co Ltd. ISBN 978-1472913562. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  27. "The Walter Lawrence Trophy". The Walter Lawrence Trophy. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2022.

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