PCA Young Player of the Year
The John Arlott Cup for the PCA Young Player of the Year is an annual cricket award presented to the player who is adjudged to be the most promising young player in English county cricket. Only players that are aged under 24 on 1 April of the awarding year are eligible for the prize.[1] The award has been given since the 1990 season and the winner is chosen by a vote amongst the members of the players' trade union, the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA).[2] The winning player is awarded the John Arlott Cup, named after John Arlott, a cricket journalist and commentator.[3] The award is well regarded by its recipients; Jamie Porter, the 2017 winner, exemplified this by saying "For other players around the country to give their seal of approval means a lot to me and makes this award special."[4]
Michael Atherton was the first winner of the award in 1990. Two players, Kabir Ali and Alastair Cook, 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 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 in 2016 and Jamie Porter 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. As of 2020, 17 of the 30 winners have also collected the Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year award, chosen by members of the Cricket Writers' Club, an association of cricket journalists.[5]
Winners
Notes
- Note that Wisden Cricketers of the Year are awarded for the previous year. For the purposes of this list, being named PCA Young Player of the Year in 1990 is equivalent to being named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1991.
References
- Afford, Andy, ed. (1 November 2019). "The History Makers". Beyond the Boundaries. No. 25. Professional Cricketers' Association. p. 13.
- "Media advisory: cricket awards". Sports Journalists' Association. 30 September 2009. Archived from the original on 26 April 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
- "John Arlott: Commentary legend & voice of post-war peace – Almanack tribute". Wisden. 14 December 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
- "Samit Patel and Jamie Porter land PCA award success". The Argus. 5 October 2017. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
- "Cricket Writers' Club". Sports Journalists' Association. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
- "NatWest PCA Young Player of the Year". Professional Cricketers' Association. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
- "Wisden Cricketers of the Year". Wisden. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
- "NatWest PCA Players' Player of the Year". Professional Cricketers' Association. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
- "Cricket Writers' Club Awards". Cricket Writers' Club. Retrieved 7 July 2020.