Curran wins young cricketer award

Bailey to lead Australia PM’s XI against South Africa

LONDON, Oct 2, (AFP): England all-rounder Sam Curran won the Cricket Writers’ Club young cricketer of the year award on Tuesday while his Surrey teammate Rory Burns was named County Championship player of the year.

Curran, 20, made his Test debut against Pakistan in June and ended up as England’s man-of-the-series in a 4-1 success over India.

He is averaging an impressive 36.50 with the bat and 23.23 with the ball after five Tests, with a highest score of 78 and best bowling figures of four for 74 with his left-arm swing.

Surrey captain Burns led from the front with a tally of 1,359 runs at an average of 64.71, including four hundreds, as the County Championship title returned to the Oval for the first time since 2002.

The 28-year-old finally forced his way into the England squad, where he will now have a chance to fill a vacancy at the top of the order following Alastair Cook’s retirement from international cricket.

Natalie Sciver, captain of the Surrey Stars side that won the Kia Super League title, won the CWC’s women’s

award.

Australian cricket veteran will captain the

in their one-day match against in at the end of the month.

The 36-year-old, who has previously led in both ODI and T20 matches, said he was excited to be handed the captaincy after playing in the PM’s XI on several occasions.