Hightown's Sutcliffe Is First Gunn & Moore Cricket World Award Winner

The Gunn and Moore Cricket World batting performance of the month for May has been awarded to Ian Sutcliffe of Hightown Cricket Club.

Former club captain, Ian Sutcliffe, scored an amazing 151 not out in Hightown's 49-run win over Rainford in the Liverpool Premier League. He became only the 15th person in the League's history to score over 150 runs in an innings. Ian hit 20 fours and five sixes on his way to his personal best score in the League.

John Williams, Chairman of the Liverpool and District Cricket Competition said: "We are absolutely delighted with Ian's award, particularly as he is a longstanding player in our league.

"The award, with due acknowledgement to Cricket World and Gunn and Moore, is being widely publicised across our league area."

Other notable performances which caught the judges' eye were from Australian, Andrew Mcguiness, from Marple Cricket Club who scored 306 runs in May and top scored with 139 and Malcolm Johnson from Bexhill Cricket Club, who amassed 305 runs in May and, at only 21 years old, is captaining the league side for the first time. 

Other more familiar names include former Nantwich and Queensland all-rounder Glen Batticciotto was one of the month's leading ex-pros, hitting scores of 127, 35 not out and 113 not out for his new club Saffron Walden in the East Anglian Premier League.

Of the current county players doing the rounds in club cricket, Middlesex and Sunbury batsman Adam London hit 280 runs from three matches; Unicorns wicket-keeper Tom New struck 289 runs from four matches for Mansfield Hosiery Mills and Chris Liddle hit the highest score of the month, 209 not out from just 138 balls, for Brighton & Hove against Eastbourne

Meanwhile, Kendal's former New Zealand batsman Jamie How (519 runs from five matches); former Pakistan middle-order batsman Umar Amin (334 runs for Morecambe); and St Annes' ever-influential Sri Lankan spinner Dinuka Hettiarachchi (25 wickets at an average of 7.92) were the pick of the overseas professionals.

NOTES

The GM Cricket World ECB Premier League batting performance awards

CricketWorld.com and the world renowned cricket manufacturer Gunn & Moore have teamed up to provide a monthly award for the leading batsman in the ECB Premier League.
 
The winner each month will receive a Gunn and Moore Original LE bat of their choice (see GM™'s unique Bat Selector) and all winners will get an invitation to visit the famous Gunn & Moore factory in Nottingham after the season.
 
The winner will be chosen each month by the Editorial panel and their decision will be based on either an individual performance or a succession of individual performances during that month. The Editorial panel is aware that there are a number of ex-professional and current pro-cricketers in the ECB Premier Leagues and their decisions on the winners are weighted towards the 'non-professional' club cricketers' performances and their decisions are final.
 
For the last 3 years, CricketWorld.com has published online, weekly results and performances of all ECB Premier Leagues, in the UK, throughout the season and also compile their unique Club Cricket MVP (Most Valuable Player) ratings as well.

© Cricket World 2012