Last night, Thursday 1 October, saw over 300 players, staff, sponsors, members and guests come together in the Thomas Lord Suite at Lord's Cricket Ground, for Middlesex CCC's End of Season Dinner and Players' Awards Evening.
All those in attendance enjoyed a champagne reception followed by a delicious three-course meal and were entertained throughout the evening with an Ashes review, a review of both the Middlesex 1st XI and 2nd XI seasons, a Q&A with both Middlesex Captains, and most importantly the presentation of this season's player awards. James Harris was the stand out winner, taking home three awards, including this year's Middlesex Player of the Year Award.
The club also used the evening to raise some money for the Middlesex Cricket Trust (MCT), which supports recreational cricket throughout Middlesex. To find out more about the MCT and the work they do please CLICK HERE
The winners of this year's awards were as follows:
- Brooks Macdonald Player of the Month for September: Toby Roland-Jones
- John Bugden Bowling Award: James Harris for his career best figures of 9-34 against Durham CCC at Lord's in April
- Geoff Norris Batting Performance Award: Dawid Malan for his career best knock of 182 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge
- Women's Youth Player of the Year: Sophia Dunkley - 2015 was a breakthrough season for Sophia, where she established herself as a Senior County Cricketer playing in every fixture across both formats. She showed the potential to develop into a very valuable allrounder and had a highest Score of 66* vs Notts Women and best bowling figures of 3/28 vs Lancashire Women. Following her summer performances and her involvement in the England Women’s Development Programme U19s she has been awarded with selection into the England Academy Squad.
- Youth Player of the Year: Josh de Caires - Josh captained our under 13 team this year, winning 13 out of the 16 games they played. He led from the front, scoring 611 runs at an average of 50.92, including four half centuries and two centuries. Not finished there, he also represented our under 14 team, just missing out on a further century in one of the games. An outstanding year for a young man with a lot of potential as a cricketer.
- Players' Player of the Year: James Harris, who received 75% of the votes! The Lanes Group Disability Squad Player of the Year: Peter Hull - Peter has taken to County Cricket like a duck to water. He scored a magnificent 45 on debut and hasn’t looked back since. He has become a popular senior member of the squad and always helps out his teammates and captain whenever he can. He also works incredibly hard on his own game, has an outstanding knowledge of the sport and has become the player everyone aspires to be like. He is a rock at the top of our batting order, and we look forward to him going on to score big runs in the years ahead.
- Women's Player of the Year: Fran Wilson - In her first season with Middlesex, Fran has made a huge impact both on and off the field. She scored 422 runs across the season averaging 60.2 in one day cricket and 52.8 in T20 matches, and is widely regarded as one of the best fielders in the country. Her highlights this year were an outstanding 110 off 104 balls in the final match of the season against Warwickshire and 90 vs Kent to set up a memorable win against the 2014 county champions. Her ability to score runs in all situations, her calm nature on the field and knowledge and experience of the game have had a significant influence on this young team and she has been a massive asset to the squad this year. Her performances in county cricket also earned her a well-deserved call up to the England Ashes test squad to play Australia this summer, and retain her place in the England performance squad this winter.
- Player of the Year: James Harris - James has had a fantastic season, which saw him take 88 wickets and score 533 runs in all cricket, with a first class average of 23 with the bat and 25 with the ball. He has already picked up the Bowling Award for his career best of 9-34, has taken four 5-wicket hauls and has had one 10-wicket match. He has also been voted by his peers as their player of the Season, a huge Congratulations to James Harris on a fantastic season.
During the evening presentations were also made to Neil Dexter, a true clubman and previous Club captain, who is leaving to pursue new challenges at Leicestershire CCC, and Danni Warren, a true stalwart of the Middlesex Women's side, who is retiring this year. Everyone at the club wishes them luck in their future endeavours.
Congratulations to all those who won awards last night!
