Daniel Bell-Drummond and Charlotte Edwards receive England Cricketer of the Year Awards

ECB today announced the winners of the England Cricketer of the Year Awards for 2011-12, with Kent's Daniel Bell-Drummond and Charlotte Edwards two of the four winners.

Charlotte Edwards and James Anderson were named, respectively, as the EnglandWomen's and England Men’s Cricketer of the Year for 2011-12.

They are joined by Daniel Bell Drummond, the England Development Programme Cricketer of the Year and this year’s England Disability Cricketer of the Year, Callum Rigby.

All four received their awards at a special dinner held in the Long Room at Lord’s this evening which was hosted by ECB and Brit Insurance, the sponsor of all England cricket teams.

The awards recognise outstanding performances in all formats of international cricket over the past year, beginning with last summer’s domestic international programme and encompassing the recent winter tours.

England Women’s captain Charlotte Edwards won the Women’s award following an outstanding year in which she averaged over 50 with the bat and saw her team complete a clean sweep of series wins at home and abroad. The other nominees were also wellrepresented by Kent Women;Laura Marsh, Sarah Taylor and Lydia Greenway.

Commenting on her award, Charlotte Edwards said; “It’s an honour to receive this award. I’m really pleased to have contributed to the team’s victories. Our success over the last 12 month is testament to contributions from the whole team and we look forward to that continuing in the exciting season ahead.”

Daniel Bell-Drummond was named the winner of the inaugural England Development Programme Cricketer of the Year award, which fellow England Under 19 players, Kent's Adam Ball, Ben Foakes (Essex) and Sam Wood (Nottinghamshire) were also nominated for.

Bell-Drummond’s award capped a superb year for the Kent batsman who first played for England Under 19s as a 16-year-old and is now England’s all-time highest run-scorer in One-Day Internationals at Under 19 level.

Daniel Bell-Drummond commented on the award; "I'm delighted to have been named England Development Programme Cricketer of the Year, it's a real honour to have been given this award and hopefully it is the beginning of things to come for me."

ECB Chief Executive David Collier said: “This has been a marvellous year for all our England teams with our Men’s team becoming the World’s number one ranked Test side, our Women’s team winning every series they contested, and our EDP and Disability squads also making significant progress in their respective fields.

“Congratulations go to all our winners. There was intense competition for the individual awards in each category this year and James, Charlotte, Daniel and Callum can all be very proud of their achievements. We also thank Brit, our team sponsor, for supporting these awards and MCC for providing such a magnificent venue for our annual awards dinner.“

Click here to read Daniel Bell-Drummond's recent interviewwith the Kent Cricket website

Photo, Daniel Bell Drummond: ECB Photography

Photo, Charlotte Edwards:Sarah Ansell SarahCanterbury.com