The Walter Lawrence Trophy is an annual award made to the player who has scored the fastest century in English domestic county cricket that season, in terms of balls received (not counting wides). Hundreds are considered by a panel of experts which, as of 2020, comprise Michael Atherton, David Gower, Simon Hughes and John Barclay. Those which are adjudged to have been made against declaration bowling are not eligible for the award, although this restriction was not always observed in former years. , the recipient of the Walter Lawrence Trophy is also presented with a cheque for £2,500.
The trophy was instituted in 1934 by Sir Walter Lawrence, a builder and cricket enthusiast from Hertfordshire, the first recipient being Frank Woolley. At this stage in its history, the criterion was the time taken to score a hundred rather than the number of balls faced. The award was made every season up to and including 1939 when Lawrence died. When first class cricket resumed in 1945 after the Second World War, Lawrence's son Guy left the presentation of the Trophy in abeyance. It was finally re-instated by Guy's son-in-law, Brian Thornton for the 1966 season. The recipient was then the player who had scored the fastest England Test century in terms of balls faced, at home or away, in the calendar year. The 1970 award was made to Geoffrey Boycott for "the most meritorious innings of the England v The Rest of the World series", but in 1971 the original version of the award was restored. Since 1985, the trophy has been decided in terms of balls faced rather than minutes spent at the crease.
University games were eligible for the trophy until 1995 and from 2001 to 2003. Until 2007, only first-class centuries could qualify for the award, but eligibility was widened in 2008 to include limited overs cricket. Graham Napier became the first man to win the trophy under these new conditions by scoring a 44-ball hundred in a Twenty20 match. Matches involving individual university sides (i.e. University Centre of Cricketing Excellence matches and the Varsity Match) are excluded, although games involving the combined British Universities team are eligible. Three other variants of the Walter Lawrence Trophy are also awarded annually: Walter Lawrence Women's Award, Walter Lawrence MCC Universities Award and Walter Lawrence Schools Award.
Four batsmen have won the main award on more than one occasion, twice each: Ian Botham, Graham Lloyd, Leslie Ames and Viv Richards. Kent have the most winners (8) followed by Somerset (6). The winner of the main award for the 2021 English cricket season is England batter Liam Livingstone, who struck 100 in 42 balls against Pakistan in the first T20 international match.
Winners
+ Winners of the Walter Lawrence Trophy Season Player Time taken For Against Venue Notes1934 Frank Woolley63 minutesKentNorthamptonshireDover1935 Harold Gimblett63 minutesSomersetEssexFromeGimblett's first innings in first-class cricket1936 Leslie Ames68 minutesEngland XIIndiaFolkestonenot a Test match1937 Joe Hardstaff Jr51 minutesNottinghamshireKentCanterbury1938 Hugh Bartlett57 minutesSussexAustraliansHoveafter scoring 4 in the first 14 minutes1939 Leslie Ames67 minutesKentSurreyThe Oval1940 to 1944: no first-class cricket in England1945 to 1965: Trophy not awardedCalendar yearBalls faced1966 Ken Barrington153 ballsEnglandAustraliaMelbourne1967 Basil D'Oliveira183 ballsEnglandIndiaLeeds1968 Tom Graveney174 ballsEnglandWest IndiesPort-of-Spain1969 Colin Milburn163 ballsEnglandPakistanKarachi1970 Geoffrey Boycott222 ballsEnglandRest of the WorldThe Oval"most meritorious" innings of the seriesSeasonTime taken1971 Brian Davison63 minutesLeicestershireNorthamptonshireLeicester1972 Majid Khan70 minutesGlamorganWarwickshireBirmingham1973 Asif Iqbal72 minutesKentMCCCanterbury1974 Garry Sobers83 minutesNottinghamshireDerbyshireIlkeston1975 Robin Hobbs44 minutesEssexAustraliansChelmsford1976 Alan Knott70 minutesKentSussexCanterbury1977 Chris Old37 minutesYorkshireWarwickshireBirminghamagainst "declaration bowling"1978 Gordon Greenidge82 minutesHampshireGlamorganSouthampton1979 Mike Procter57 minutesGloucestershireNorthamptonshireBristol1980 Viv Richards66 minutesWest IndiesGlamorganSwansea1981 Sylvester Clarke62 minutesSurreyGlamorganSwanseabatting at number nine1982 Ian Botham52 minutesSomersetWarwickshireTaunton1983 Steve O'Shaughnessy35 minutesLancashireLeicestershireManchesteragainst "declaration bowling"1984 Mike Gatting79 minutesMiddlesexKentLord'sBalls faced1985 Ian Botham50 ballsSomersetWarwickshireBirmingham1986 Viv Richards48 ballsSomersetGlamorganTaunton1987 Roland Butcher73 ballsMiddlesexSussexHove1988 Graeme Hick79 ballsWorcestershireSurreyThe Oval1989 Darren Bicknell69 ballsSurreyEssexThe Oval1990 Tom Moody36 ballsWarwickshireGlamorganSwanseaagainst "declaration bowling"1991 Ian Austin61 ballsLancashireYorkshireScarborough1992 Martin Speight62 ballsSussexLancashireHove1993 Paul Johnson73 ballsNottinghamshireGlamorganSwansea Matthew Maynard73 ballsGlamorganAustraliansNeath1994 Ken Rutherford71 ballsNew ZealandersGlamorganSwansea1995 Chris Cairns65 ballsNottinghamshireCambridge UFenner's1996 Graham Lloyd70 ballsLancashireEssexChelmsford1997 Graham Lloyd73 ballsLancashireLeicestershireLeicester1998 Ali Brown72 ballsSurreyNorthamptonshireThe Ovalaward shared Carl HooperKentWorcestershireCanterbury1999 Andrew Flintoff61 ballsLancashireGloucestershireBristolbefore lunch on the first day2000 Darren Lehmann89 ballsYorkshireKentCanterbury2001 Ian Harvey61 ballsGloucestershireDerbyshireBristol2002 Matthew Fleming66 ballsKentSri LankansCanterbury2003 Damien Martyn65 ballsYorkshireGloucestershireLeedson the last day of the season2004 Richard Johnson63 ballsSomersetDurhamChester-le-Streetat number ten2005 Ian Blackwell67 ballsSomersetDerbyshireTauntonon the last day of the season2006 Mark Ealham45 ballsNottinghamshireMCCLord's2007 Marcus North73 ballsGloucestershireLeicestershireBristol2008 Graham Napier44 ballsEssexSussexChelmsford2009 Vikram Solanki47 ballsWorcestershireGlamorganWorcester2010 Adam Gilchrist47 ballsMiddlesexKentCanterbury2011 Kevin O'Brien44 ballsGloucestershireMiddlesexUxbridge2012 Scott Styris37 ballsSussexGloucestershireHove2012 Friends Life t20 Quarter-finals2013 Darren Stevens44 ballsKentSussexCanterbury2014 Daniel Christian46 ballsMiddlesexKentCanterburyaward shared Sam BillingsKentSomersetTaunton2015 David Willey40 ballsNorthamptonshireSussexHove2016 Tom Kohler-Cadmore43 ballsWorcestershireDurhamWorcester2017 Shahid Afridi43 ballsHampshireDerbyshireDerby2018 Martin Guptill35 ballsWorcestershireNorthamptonshireNorthampton2019 Cameron Delport38 ballsEssexSurreyChelmsford2020 Joe Clarke44 ballsNottinghamshireDurhamChester-le-Street2021 Liam Livingstone42 ballsEnglandPakistanNottingham2022 Paul Stirling46 ballsBirmingham BearsNorthants SteelbacksBirmingham2023 Sean Abbott34 ballsSurreyKentThe Oval2024 Rishi Patel41 ballsLeicestershire FoxesNorthants Steelbacksthe County Ground
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