The Guardian Sport cricket writer Will Macpherson has been named the young county cricket journalist of the year by the England and Wales Cricket Board.
“The judging panel was impressed particularly by the strength in depth of the entries in the young county journalist of the year category,” said Mark Baldwin, the chairman of the Cricket Writers’ Club. “I would like to congratulate Will Macpherson for the quality and range of his portfolio, which won him the main award but the writing of our two runners-up Tim Wigmore and Henry Cowen, was also exceptional and had to be given the quality of many other entries.”
Macpherson has most recently been in Bangladesh covering England’s ODI series and has been a stalwart of the Guardian website and newspaper’s county cricket coverage this summer.
He has been a regular contributor the Guardian Sport’s county cricket liveblog while also reporting across the county season. Alongside another Guardian Sport cricket writer, Vithushan Ehantharajah, he has also set up the Freelance Cricket Club podcast, which can be heard on the Guardian website.
As part of the prize, named in honour of Christopher Martin-Jenkins, Macpherson will receive £3,000 to fund a week-long trip to the UAE next March to report on the new North v South 50-over series.
“It is in the interests of everyone who follows and cherishes county cricket that standards in media coverage across all platforms should be as high as possible, as a reflection of the strong and passionate following for our domestic game, and I would like to congratulate too the winners of the other three categories in this year’s awards,” said Baldwin as Dave Fletcher was named the Christopher Martin-Jenkins county broadcaster of the year, the Sunday Independent was named regional newspaper of the year and the Cricket Paper was named county cricket newspaper of the year.
The ECB’s chief executive officer, Tom Harrison, said: “These awards recognise and reward the vital role cricket writers and broadcasters play in driving interest in all our domestic competitions. My congratulations to the winners and our sincere thanks to all the individuals and media organisations who provided such comprehensive and insightful coverage across a truly memorable county season.”
