Walter Lawrence Trophy

History

The Walter Lawrence Trophy was found by a cricket buff and builder, Sir Walter Lawrence in 1934 to be awarded to the player who scored the quickest century scored in an English innings in first-class cricket. The award was confined to England and county cricket.

The award is an annual event and was given every year until 1939, when it was stopped due to the demise of Sir Walter Lawrence and the beginning of the World War II. The awards were continued again from 1966.

During its initial years it was debated whether the quickest century should be calculated with regards to the time that it takes or the balls that was faced while making the score. Hence, the awards were given on the basis of minutes from 1934 to 1939 and again in 1971 to 1984, and on the basis of balls faced from 1966 to 1970 and 1985 till date.

Methodology

The award is given to a player who scores 100 runs in the shortest possible time in the minimum number of deliveries. Wide balls a batsman might face are not considered. The hundreds are then considered by a panel of experts who decide on the eligibility of the award. The panel currently consists of Bill Frindall, Simon Hughes & David Gower.

List of Award Winners

Season	Player	Time taken/ Balls Faced	Team
1934	Frank Woolley	63 minutes	Kent
1935	Harold Gimblett	63 minutes	Somerset
1936	Leslie Ames	68 minutes	England XI
1937	Joe Hardstaff Jr.	51 minutes	Nottinghamshire
1938	Hugh Bartlett	57 minutes	Sussex
1939	Leslie Ames	67 minutes	Kent
1966	Ken Barrington	153 balls	England
1967	Basil D'Oliveira	183 balls	England
1968	Tom Graveney	174 balls	England
1969	Colin Milburn	163 balls	England
1970	Geoffrey Boycott	222 balls	England
1971	Brian Davison	63 minutes	Leicestershire
1972	Majid Khan	70 minutes	Glamorgan
1973	Asif Iqbal	72 minutes	Kent
1974	Garry Sobers	83 minutes	Nottinghamshire
1975	Robin Hobbs	44 minutes	Essex
1976	Alan Knott	70 minutes	Kent
1977	Chris Old	37 minutes	Yorkshire
1978	Gordon Greenidge	82 minutes	Hampshire
1979	Mike Procter	57 minutes	Gloucestershire
1980	Viv Richards	66 minutes	West Indians
1981	Sylvester Clarke	62 minutes	Surrey
1982	Ian Botham	52 minutes	Somerset
1983	Steven O'Shaughnessy	35 minutes	Lancashire
1984	Mike Gatting	79 minutes	Middlesex
1985	Ian Botham	50 balls	Somerset
1986	Viv Richards	48 balls	Somerset
1987	Roland Butcher	73 balls	Middlesex
1988	Graeme Hick	79 balls	Worcestershire
1989	Darren Bicknell	69 balls	Surrey
1990	Tom Moody	36 balls	Warwickshire
1991	Ian Austin	61 balls	Lancashire
1992	Matthew Maynard	73 balls	Glamorgan
1993	Paul Johnson	73 balls	Nottinghamshire
1994	Ken Rutherford	71 balls	New Zealanders
1995	Chris Cairns	65 balls	Nottinghamshire
1996	Graham Lloyd	70 balls	Lancashire
1997	Graham Lloyd	73 balls	Lancashire
1998	Ali Brown & Carl Hooper	72 balls	Surrey & Kent
1999	Andrew Flintoff	61 balls	Lancashire
2000	Darren Lehmann	89 balls	Yorkshire
2001	Ian Harvey	61 balls	Gloucestershire
2002	Matthew Fleming	66 balls	Kent
2003	Damien Martyn	65 balls	Yorkshire
2004	Richard Johnson	63 balls	Somerset
2005	Ian Blackwell	67 balls	Somerset
2006	Mark Ealham	45 balls	Nottinghamshire
2007	Marcus North	73 balls	Gloucestershire