Joe Root & Eve Jones win PCA player of the year awards
- Published
Root shone for England in the summer and Jones was in great form for Central Sparks and Birmingham Phoenix
England Test captain Joe Root and Central Sparks skipper Eve Jones have won the Professional Cricketers' Association player of the year awards.
Yorkshire's Root, 30, was also named Test player of the summer.
Batter Jones, 29, becomes the first female uncapped by England to win one of the main PCA awards.
Yorkshire batter Harry Brook, 22, was named the men's young player of the year, while 17-year-old all-rounder Alice Capsey took the women's award.
The coveted awards are voted on by the players' fellow professionals.
'I play the game to win'
Root - who hit two double centuries during winter tours to Sri Lanka and India - has amassed 1,455 Test runs in 2021 at an average of 66.13.
The right-hander also scored 661 runs in six Tests this summer at an average of 66.10, including three consecutive hundreds against India.
"It is a privilege to win an award, especially one that is judged by your peers," he said.
"I'm very grateful for that recognition but I play the game to win and to contribute to the team winning games so the fact I've been able to contribute this summer has been really pleasing and hopefully it can carry forward into what comes next this winter."
Root beat Durham's David Bedingham, Nottinghamshire's Luke Fletcher and Essex's Simon Harmer to the award.
'I'd love to play for England' - Jones
Jones becomes the first player who has not played for England to win the main women's award, with international duo Sophia Dunkley and Nat Sciver, and Western Storm's Danielle Gibson, the other shortlisted nominees.
"I've thoroughly enjoyed being a professional throughout the last year. Having cricket as my main career is something that I've dreamed of for a long time," said Jones, one of 41 female domestic players to be handed full-time professional contracts last December.
She scored over 800 runs in domestic cricket for Sparks in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and Birmingham Phoenix in the inaugural Hundred women's competition.
She added: "I'd love to play for England and put that shirt on one day. But if it doesn't, I'm having the best time of my life and I'll still relish the opportunities to play cricket around the world."
Capsey makes history & Brook looks to future
Alice Capsey and Harry Brook both starred in domestic cricket this summer
Capsey - who is not yet a full-time professional cricketer or PCA member - is the youngest ever winner of one of the PCA's player-voted awards.
Dunkley and recent England debutant Charlie Dean were also on the shortlist.
Capsey was a key part of the Oval Invincbles team which won the women's Hundred, taking 10 wickets and scoring 150 wins.
She also starred in the Charlotte Edwards Cup with winners South East Stars - scoring 203 runs and taking seven wickets.
"It's a huge honour and it will probably be the one of the best awards that I win in my career," she said.
"To be the first person to have your name engraved on the trophy will be really special."
Brook was the fourth highest scorer in this season's T20 Blast with 486 runs.
He also finished in the top 10 run-scorers in The Hundred - playing for Northern Superchargers - with 189 runs from only five innings.
"The best players back it up year after year and hopefully I can do that," said Brook, who beat Sam Cook of Essex and Sussex's Tom Haines to the award.
"There's still things to work on in my game and there's a big winter coming up where I can try to become better and better."
Other PCA award winners
County Championship player of the year - Luke Fletcher
Men's ODI player of the summer - Saqib Mahmood
Women's ODI player of the summer - Heather Knight
One-Day Cup player of the year - Scott Borthwick
Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy player of the year - Kathryn Bryce
Men's T20 international player of the summer - Liam Livingstone
Women's T20 international player of the summer - Nat Sciver
T20 Blast player of the year - Samit Patel
Charlotte Edwards Cup player of the year - Eve Jones
Umpire of the year (men's game) - Alex Wharf
Umpire of the year (women's game) - Anna Harris
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