‘Faf’ In Charge

Lancashire’s Francois du Plessis leads the charge for this season’s Walter Lawrence Trophy after scoring a 71-ball hundred against Essex in the Friends Provident Trophy quarter-final match, at Old Trafford on May 23. Coming in at number five, the 24-year-old South African from Pretoria, known as ‘Faf’, hit 4 fours and 7 sixes in his century in the 67-run victory against the defending FPT champions.

Celebrating its 75th year, the Trophy, awarded for the fastest hundred of the season, is open to all domestic county competitions, with centuries scored in the Friends Provident Trophy (50-over format), NatWest Pro40 League (40-over format), and Twenty20 Cup (20-over format), as well as One-Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals, all eligible alongside those scored in the County Championship and Test Matches in England. The winner will be presented with the Trophy and a cheque for £5,000 at a special end-of-season lunch in the Long Room at Lord’s.

The front runner for the Walter Lawrence Trophy award, of a silver medallion and prize of £1,000, for the highest score by a batsman from the six MCC Universities against one of the other five University Centres of Cricketing Excellence or against one of the first-class counties is 20-year-old Stephen Gray of Cambridge UCCE. Gray, who was born in Barking, Essex and keeps wicket, scored 132 against Loughborough UCCE at Loughborough on May 24.