Joe Denly voted PCA Players’ Player of the Year; Ollie Pope wins Young Player prize
Written by News on 05/10/2018
Kent’s Joe Denly has been voted NatWest PCA Players’ Player of the Year, with Surrey’s Ollie Pope claiming the Young Player of the Year accolade.
England spinner Sophie Ecclestone was also named NatWest Women’s Player of the Summer at the 49th PCA Awards at the Roundhouse in London on Thursday night.
Denly, whose form in 2018 earned him a call-up to England’s Test squad to face Sri Lanka this November, beat off competition from Kent team-mate Matt Henry and Surrey pair Rory Burns and Rikki Clarke to earn the Reg Hayter Cup.
The 32-year-old was Kent’s leading run-scorer in the Vitality Blast and averaged 70 in the Royal London One-Day Cup as the Canterbury outfit reached the final, feats which also earned him the Blast and One-Cup Player of the Year gongs.
Denly also scored over 800 runs as Kent earned promotion in the Specsavers County Championship, while he bagged in excess of 50 wickets in all competitions with his leg-spin.
Pope pipped Surrey and England colleague Sam Curran, Worcestershire’s Ed Barnard and Pat Brown and Lancashire leg-spinner Matt Parkinson to the Young Player award.
The 20-year-old batsman – who made two Test appearances against India, a tally he will be looking to add to in Sri Lanka this winter – averaged over 70 in Surrey’s County Championship-winning campaign and almost 40 in both white-ball competitions.
Ecclestone, meanwhile, took the Women’s prize ahead of Tammy Beaumont and Katherine Brunt after a stunning summer in white-ball cricket.
The 19-year-old was named Player of the Series as England defeated New Zealand and South Africa in a T20 international series after snaring 10 wickets in five games.
Lancashire seamer Tom Bailey won the County Championship award after taking 64 wickets in Division One, while James Anderson and Jos Buttler landed the Specsavers Test Player of the Summer and NatWest ODI Player of the Summer respectively.
The PCA Awards, organised by the PCA and in association with the England and Wales Cricket Board, reflects on the domestic and international season with all proceeds from the night going to the newly launched Professional Cricketers’ Trust.
2018 NatWest PCA Awards winners
Reg Hayter Cup for the NatWest PCA Players’ Player of the Year:
Joe Denly (Kent)
John Arlott Cup for the NatWest PCA Young Player of the Year:
Ollie Pope (Surrey)
NatWest Women’s Player of the Summer:
Sophie Ecclestone
Rory Burns (Surrey, captain)
Alex Davies (Lancashire)
Joe Denly (Kent)
Ian Bell (Warwickshire / Birmingham Bears)
James Vince (Hampshire)
Moeen Ali (Worcestershire)
Dane Vilas (Lancashire)
Rikki Clarke (Surrey)
Ed Barnard (Worcestershire)
Matt Henry (Kent)
Morne Morkel (Surrey)
PCA County Championship Player of the Year:
Tom Bailey (Lancashire)
Vitality Blast Player of the Year:
Joe Denly (Kent)
Royal London One-Day Cup Player of the Year:
Joe Denly (Kent)
ECB Special Award:
Mick Hunt
Harold Goldblatt Award for the PCA Umpire of the Year:
Michael Gough
Greene King PCA England Masters Player of the Summer:
Ali Brown
Specsavers Test Player of the Summer:
James Anderson
PCA One-Day International Player of the Summer:
Jos Buttler
(c) Sky News 2018: Joe Denly voted PCA Players’ Player of the Year; Ollie Pope wins Young Player prize
