England Test captain Joe Root has bagged the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) Men's Player of the Year Award for 2021.
England captain Root has rounded off his outstanding summer, which included hundreds in three successive Test matches against India, by winning the PCA Men's Player of the Year, the association confirmed on Tuesday.
Root has led by example throughout a Test summer which saw him score 661 runs at an average of 66.1, a return that enabled him to claim a first PCA Award as the Test Player of the Summer. His summer form came off the back of an exceptional winter tour of the subcontinent which saw Root make three scores of 150+ in successive Tests, illustrating the batter's ability in all conditions.
The 30-year-old adds a second player-voted PCA Award to his collection, having been named Men's Young Player of the Year in 2012, and he is only the seventh individual to win both of the men's prizes. He is also the third Yorkshire player to win the main men's award at the PCA Awards, following in the footsteps of his boyhood idol Michael Vaughan and Adam Lyth.
This year, he has succeeded Chris Woakes in winning the award by beating fellow shortlisted candidates in Durham's David Bedingham, Luke Fletcher of Nottinghamshire and Essex's Simon Harmer to the prize.
PCA Men's Player of the Year, Root in a release said: "I'm very proud to receive the cinch PCA Men's Player of the Year award. It means a huge amount to be recognised by your fellow professionals. You spend a lot of time playing alongside them and for them to vote for me is really quite humbling. A lot of my heroes when I was growing up are on that trophy so I'm chuffed to be alongside them."
"I've been in good touch and had a good understanding of how I wanted to score my runs this year. There have been some really close games and it's been very enjoyable. I've scored runs against the best teams in the world so that has given me confidence, even as an experienced player."
"Ultimately, it's about winning for England and putting in performances that will win you Test matches. That's the best feeling -- when you walk off the pitch knowing you've put in a performance that has won your side the game. You want to replicate that and it really acts as a driving force," he added.
Eve Jones, Harry Brook and Alice Capsey are the winners of the other three main prizes at the 2021 PCA Awards.
( With inputs from ANI )
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