The PCA Player of the Year Awards are a set of annual cricket awards. Awards are given for the Men's Player of the Year, Women's Player of the Year, Men's Young Player of the Year and Women's Young Player of the Year, presented to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the year in their respective category. The winner is chosen by a vote amongst the members of the players' trade union, the

Professional Cricketers' Association The Professional Cricketers' Association is the representative body of past and present first-class cricketers in England and Wales, founded in 1967 by former England fast bowler Fred Rumsey (when it was known as the Cricketers' Association). In ...

(PCA). The Men's Player of the Year award was first awarded in 1970, whilst the Men's Young Player of the Year award began in 1990. An award named the Women's Player of the Summer was first awarded in 2014, presented to a member of the

England women's cricket team The England women's cricket team represents England and Wales in international women's cricket. Since 1998, they have been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by the Women's Cricket Associatio ...

who was adjudged to have been the best during that summer. However, in 2021, the awarded was opened up to domestic players, and named the Women's Player of the Year. Finally, the Women's Young Player of the Year award was established in 2021.

History

Men's Player of the Year

The winning player is awarded the Reg Hayter Cup, named after a

sports journalist Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in a par ...

who was also a member of the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

, a Lord's Taverner, and a life-member of

Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club (Surrey CCC) is a first-class club in county cricket, one of eighteen in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Surrey, including areas that now form South Londo ...

. With the exception of the first year, when a joint award was made, the award has been bestowed upon one individual each season. The award is well regarded by its recipients; the 2014 winner,

Adam Lyth Adam Lyth (born 25 September 1987) is a former English Test cricketer, who has played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club since 2007. He is a left-handed opening batsman. Career Domestic career Born 25 September 1987, Whitby, North Yorkshire, L ...

exemplified this by claiming that "it's a very proud moment to be voted for by your peers who you’ve played against all year." The award was first presented in 1970, when Mike Proctor of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

and Jack Bond of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

were joint winners. Seven players have won the award more than once, but only Sir

Richard Hadlee Sir Richard John Hadlee (born 3 July 1951) is a New Zealand former cricketer. Hadlee is widely regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders in cricket history, and amongst the very finest fast bowlers. Hadlee was appointed an MBE in the 1 ...

(1981, 1984 and 1987) and

Marcus Trescothick Marcus Edward Trescothick (born 25 December 1975) is an English former cricketer who played first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club, and represented England cricket team, England in 76 Test cricket, Test matches and 123 One Day In ...

(2000, 2009 and 2011) have been named Player of the Year on three occasions. Two players,

Andrew Flintoff Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff (born 6 December 1977), is an English television and radio presenter and former international cricketer. Flintoff played all forms of the game and was one of the sport's leading all-rounders, a fast bowler, middle-ord ...

and John Lever, have won the award in consecutive years. Representatives of all eighteen

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

counties have won the award. Gloucestershire players have collected the award most frequently, doing so on six occasions, while four of the counties (

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

and

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

) have only had one winner. On nineteen occasions, the PCA Player of the Year has also been named one of the five ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year for that season, and in 2005 Flintoff won the PCA award in the same year as being voted

BBC Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of just a single award of the same name. Several new awards have been introduced, and cu ...

. The Cricket Writers' Club County Championship Player of the Year was introduced in 2012, and two of the three winners of that award have been the PCA Player of the Year at the same time.

Men's Young Player of the Year

The winning player is awarded the John Arlott Cup, named after

John Arlott Leslie Thomas John Arlott, (25 February 1914 – 14 December 1991) was an English journalist, author and cricket commentator for the BBC's '' Test Match Special''. He was also a poet and wine connoisseur. With his poetic phraseology, he becam ...

, a cricket journalist and commentator. The award is presented to the player who is adjudged to be the most promising young player in English

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Two county championship competitions have existed since the late 19th century at ...

. Only players that are aged under 24 on 1 April of the awarding year are eligible for the prize.

Michael Atherton Michael Andrew Atherton (born 23 March 1968) is a broadcaster, journalist and a former England international cricketer. A right-handed opening batsman for Lancashire and England, and occasional leg-break bowler, he achieved the captaincy of E ...

was the first winner of the award in 1990. Two players,

Kabir Ali Kabir Ali (born 24 November 1980) is an English former cricketer. A right-arm seam bowler and useful lower-order right-handed batsman, he played one Test match for England in 2003, while also earning 14 ODI caps between 2003 and 2006. He star ...

and

Alastair Cook Sir Alastair Nathan Cook (born 25 December 1984) is an English former cricketer and former captain (cricket), captain of the England Test Cricket, Test and One-Day International, ODI teams. He is considered one of the greatest opening batsmen ...

, have won the award twice, both doing so in successive years; Ali in 2002 and 2003, and Cook in 2005 and 2006. Representatives of thirteen of the eighteen first-class counties have won the award.

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

players have collected the most awards, doing so on six occasions. On three occasions the PCA Young Player of the Year has also been named one of the five ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year; Atherton in 1990,

Ben Duckett Ben Matthew Duckett (born 17 October 1994) is an English international cricketer who plays for the England cricket team in all three formats of the game. He is a left-handed top-order batter who can play as a wicket-keeper. Duckett plays domes ...

in 2016 and

Jamie Porter James Alexander Porter (born 25 May 1993) is an English cricketer who has played first-class cricket for Essex since 2014. He is a righthanded batsman who bowls right arm medium-fast pace. Career In the 2011–12 season, Porter attended the D ...

in 2017. Duckett is the only player to have won both major PCA awards in the same year, as he was also named PCA Player of the Year in 2016. 18 of the 31 winners have also collected the

Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year The Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year is an annual cricket award, presented to the young player who is adjudged to have been the best of the year in English county cricket. The award has been presented since the 1950 season and t ...

award, chosen by members of the Cricket Writers' Club, an association of cricket journalists.

Women's Player of the Year

First awarded in 2014, the award was originally presented to the member of the

who is adjudged to have been the best of the English summer, as per a vote amongst the members of the team, as the Women's Player of the Summer. Prior to 2014, women had not held professional contracts, and so had not been eligible for membership of the players' trade union, the

(PCA). With the professionalisation of parts of the domestic game during 2020, the award was opened up to domestic players for the 2021 award, with

Evelyn Jones Evelyn Jones (born 8 August 1992) is an English cricketer who currently plays for Lancashire and Manchester Originals. She plays primarily as a left-handed opening batter, as well as bowling left-arm medium. She has previously played for Shropsh ...

becoming the first Women's Player of the Year for her performances for

Central Sparks Central Sparks were a women's cricket team that represented the West Midlands region, one of eight regional hubs in English domestic women's cricket. They primarily played their home matches at Edgbaston and New Road. They were captained by E ...

and

Birmingham Phoenix Birmingham Phoenix are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Birmingham. The team represents the historic counties of Warwickshire and Worcestershire in the newly founded The Hundred competition, which began its inaugural sea ...

Women's Young Player of the Year

The award was first introduced in 2021, again as part of the further professionalisation of women's domestic cricket. The first winner was

Alice Capsey Alice Rose Capsey (born 11 August 2004) is an English cricketer who currently plays for Surrey, Oval Invincibles, Delhi Capitals and Melbourne Stars. An all-rounder, she is a right-handed batter and right-arm off break bowler. In 2021, Capsey ...

South East Stars South East Stars were a women's cricket team that represented the London & South East region, one of eight regional hubs in English domestic women's cricket. They played their home matches at various grounds, including the County Cricket Ground ...

and

Oval Invincibles Oval Invincibles is a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in South London. The team represents the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Surrey and Kent in the newly founded The Hundred (cricket), The Hundred competition, which t ...

, who was not a professional cricketer or PCA member at the time of her win.

Winners

Notes

References

General * Specific {{PCA Player of the Year Cricket awards and rankings Awards established in 1970 Sports awards honoring women