Root lifts top honour as he awaits news of England line-up

Root, 21, has been voted Cricket Writers’ Club Young Cricketer of the Year for his outstanding performances during 2012.

The award – open to England-qualified players aged under 23 on May 1 – dates back to 1950.

Root is the tenth Yorkshireman to win the trophy after Fred Trueman (1952), Phil Sharpe (1962), Geoffrey Boycott (1963), Chris Old (1970), Ashley Metcalfe (1986), Richard Blakey (1987), Chris Silverwood (1996), Adil Rashid (2007) and, last year, Jonny Bairstow.

In total, the winners of the award have amassed more than 2,100 Test caps between them.

Root, who played a key part in Yorkshire’s promotion back to the First Division of the County Championship, is now hoping to win a Test cap of his own following the retirement of England captain Andrew Strauss.

Strauss’s departure has created a vacancy at the top of the order and Root is in the frame for the four-Test series, which starts in November.

Another in the mix to replace Strauss is Somerset’s Nick Compton, who has won the inaugural Cricket Writers’ Club County Championship Cricketer of the Year award.

Compton, 29, grandson of former Middlesex and England legend Denis, was the outstanding performer in county cricket this summer, scoring 1,191 Championship runs at 99 with four hundreds, seven fifties and a top score of 204 not out. Capable of opening the innings or batting first-wicket down, Compton saw off a strong challenge from Durham and England pace bowler Graham Onions.

However, in one of the wettest summers on record, Compton’s performances held sway due to his sheer weight of runs and striking consistency.

Compton was just one day off becoming the first batman in 24 years to score 1,000 first-class runs before the end of May – an achievement that would have been all the more impressive given the reduction in the number of first-class fixtures since Graeme Hick achieved the feat.

The County Championship Cricketer of the Year award was open to all players involved in this year’s competition and keenly contested. In contrast, Root was the runaway winner of his award, for which there were a number of nominees.

The stylish right-hander – a product of the same Sheffield Collegiate club as former England captain Michael Vaughan – scored 746 runs in 15 first-class games this year at an average of nearly 40 with two hundreds. This included a career-best 222 not out against Hampshire at Southampton, an innings that perhaps did as much as anything to propel him into England contention.

Root’s trophy follows hot on the heels of his scooping the inaugural LV County Championship Breakthrough Player Award.

Root received the LV award from former England captain Mike Gatting during the recent game against Glamorgan.