Yorkshire stars Lyth and Lees earn national awards

Yorkshire's Adam Lyth celebrates winning the Division One County Championship trophy during day four of the LV= County Championship Division One match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. SSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday September 12, 2014. See PA story CRICKET Nottinghamshire. Photo credit should read: Mike Egerton/PA Wire

The duo’s partnership at the head of the innings was crucial to the White Rose’s LV= County Championship success this season, with Scarborough News columnist Lyth named the William Hill CWC championship player of the year and Lees picking up the CWC young cricketer of the year award.

Former Scarborough CC player Lyth, 27, topped the Division One scoring charts with 1,489 runs and six centuries at an average of 67.68, while Lees’ 971 runs came at an average of 44.13 with two hundreds.

Both awards are available only to England-qualified players, with the young players category limited to those under-23 on May 1.

Lees, 21, is the 11th Yorkshire player to win that prize, which dates back to 1950 and the fourth in seven years following Adil Rashid, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root.

Lyth, meanwhile, is the CWC’s third championship player of the year, following in the footsteps of Nick Compton and Wayne Madsen.

Also honoured at a lunch in London’s Plaisterers’ Hall was Lancashire’s former England coach and television commentator, David Lloyd.

He received the Peter Smith award for an outstanding contribution to the promotion of cricket.