PCA pays tribute to 2018 retirees

The recent NatWest PCA Awards celebrated the successes of the 2018 season with 12 awards presented at the most prestigious awards ceremony in English cricket.

Joe Denly was awarded the NatWest PCA Players’ Player of the Year, Ollie Pope took home the NatWest PCA Young Player of the Year award while Sophie Ecclestone’s teammates voted her the NatWest Women’s Player of the Summer.

However, the evening also championed PCA members who have given their entire careers to professional cricket and have decided to hang up their spikes and retire over the past 12 months.

The event programme included tributes to the retirees while a section of the evening was dedicated to PCA members who are moving on from their playing days…

A debut in 2002, left-handed top-order man Adams has been an integral part of Hampshire’s success, particularly in white-ball cricket, the club enjoying 50-over titles in 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2018 plus T20 wins in 2010 and 2012. Described as a ‘genuine team player’ Adams accrued 25 first-class hundreds and was appointed captain in 2012.

Three county championships (2008, 2009, 2013) and three one-day titles (two in 2007, plus 2014) underpin a 68-cap nine-year run with the national side. An Ashes winner in 2005, 2009 and 2011, the all-rounder became the first England captain to win a global tournament when lifting the T20 World Cup in 2009. ‘Colly’ was named an MBE in 2005.

A first-class average of better than 40 speaks volumes for the consistency, skill and staying power of the classy top-order man.

Two spells at Middlesex – punctuated by a stint with Somerset between 2010 and 2014 – this grandson of the legendary Denis, amassed 1,494 first-class runs in 2012 at an average of 99.6 to be named the NatWest PCA Players’ Player of the Year. 16 Test appearances realised two hundreds with a highest score of 117 made against New Zealand in Dunedin in 2013.

With spells at Lancashire and Middlesex, it will be the seasons spent with Northamptonshire that this Aussie-born all-rounder will be most fondly remembered. A cult hero at Wantage Road, Crook’s 13-year association with the Steelbacks delivered a County Championship promotion in 2013 and T20 titles in 2013 and 2016.

Born in Johannesburg, playing international cricket for New Zealand, Wellington-based Elliott finished his professional career with the Birmingham Bears. A true globetrotter, the all-rounder played for 12 domestic teams worldwide, including Leicestershire and Surrey. The 39-year-old appeared in a World Cup final v Australia in 2015.

Five Tests and 42 ODIs with Zimbabwe, a spell with Western Australia, and then 14 years with Hampshire, all contributed to the forging of a reputation as a destructive force in the county game. 229 first-class matches later the all-rounder aggregated over 20,000 runs and 500 wickets in all cricket.

Regarded throughout the game as a timeless artiste, Foster contributed runs, dismissals and classy glovework over 19 immaculate years of county service. Playing over 700 first-team games for Essex, a career-best of 212 (23 hundreds in total) was made against Leicestershire in 2012. He played seven Tests for England between 2001 and 2002. When Essex won the County Championship in 2017 he was the side’s elder statesman aged 37.

Counting Durham, Nottinghamshire and Kent as clubs, High Wycombe-born all-rounder Gidman became the first cricketer to do the double (1000 Championship runs and 50 wickets) for 15 years, when completing the feat for Gloucestershire in 2011. Such was the rarity, Gidman found himself only the seventh player ever to do so in a debut Championship campaign.

A veteran of 103 ODIs for Ireland, O’Brien also played 30 IT20s and their inaugural Test Match against Pakistan earlier this summer. The wicketkeeper-batsman played for Kent, Northants and Leicestershire in a 13 year career in county cricket. The Dublin born 36-year-old retires as Ireland’s most prolific keeper to add to his 25,826 career runs.

Chichester-born wicketkeeper-batsman Hodd played for Surrey, Sussex and Yorkshire across a 114-match first-class career, winning the small matter of four county titles (Sussex and Yorkshire, two each) in the process. Regarded as a reliable and consistent ‘team man’, Hodd provided exceptional service across 16 years on the circuit.

Queenslander Magoffin racked up spells with Leicestershire, Worcestershire and Surrey before making a home with Sussex. Accurate to the point of metronomic, the 38-year-old seam bowler enjoyed a 160-match first-class career. He returned to New Road for a final crack at First Division cricket in 2018.

Quirky of action, only proving that action indeed speaks louder than words, left-arm seamer Shantry found himself a hugely popular figure with the Worcestershire faithful. A better-than solid performer with the ball, 2016 saw him add his name to the record books with the bat when completing a whirlwind Championship hundred against Gloucestershire from No.10.

South African-born batsman Myburgh played for Durham and Hampshire before finding his true home in the West Country. Finishing with a first-class average of better than 40 and regarded as an outstanding role model, a career-best 203 came in 1997 when playing for Northerns against Easterns at Pretoria.

A genial off-spinner of automaton-like accuracy, the 36-year-old made two Test appearances for England on tours to Bangladesh and West Indies. Potent with white ball in hand, Tredwell became a reliable member of England’s one-day squad between 2010 and 2015, playing 45 ODIs and 17 IT20I. Tredwell was named captain of Kent in 2013.

An Ashes-deciding hundred on Test debut in 2009 is bookended by a promotion with Warwickshire in 2018, providing a Boy’s Own story for the right-hander. Born in Cape Town, Trott played 52 Tests, 68 ODIs and seven IT20I between 2007 and 2015 with a Test-best of 227 made against Bangladesh at Lord’s in 2010. Batting alongside Alastair Cook without undue fuss or unnecessary pyrotechnics, Trott helped win a first Ashes down under for 25 years in 2010/11.