Root takes out trio of Player of Year gongs

Joe Root has added a few more honours to his burgeoning career, named England's Test Cricketer of the Year and England's Limited-Overs Cricketer of the Year at the ECB's annual awards evening.

Root was also voted Men's Player of the Year by England fans for the second year running, the supporters recognising his outstanding performances which included a pair of hundreds during a 3-2 home Ashes success, four ODI hundreds across the voting period, and a team-high 249 runs during the ICC World T20, in which England finished runners-up to the West Indies.

Root beat off competition from fellow nominees Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes for the Test cricket award, with Jos Buttler and David Willey his rivals for the Limited Overs award.

Root's superb form with the bat also saw him climb to No.1 in the Test rankings during last year's Ashes, and the 25-year-old is steadily building an incredible record in the game's longest format: in 39 Tests, he averages 54.93 with nine hundreds.

Despite having played just 68 ODIs, Root already has eight hundreds and trails only Marcus Trescothick (12) and Kevin Pietersen (9) among Englishmen on that list.

Among other awards handed out on the night, Somerset's Anya Shrubsole won the England Women's Cricketer of the Year award for the first time.

For Shrubsole, it was just reward for a successful year which saw her take 32 wickets across all formats including a 4-19 spell in last summer's Women's Ashes series. Heather Knight and Sarah Taylor were the other nominees for the award. 

Charlotte Edwards, who recently announced her retirement from international cricket after 20 years as an England player, won the Women's Player of the Year award voted for by England fans.

"It's been a remarkable year for our international teams," said ECB CEO Tom Harrison. "The Women's Ashes attracted record attendances and unprecedented levels of media interest, our physical disability team won the inaugural Physical Disability World Cup in Bangladesh, and our men's team regained the Ashes, won a major Test series in South Africa, and reached the final of the World T20 tournament.

"Each of the players honoured tonight has made a big contribution to England cricket, helping to win matches and to inspire a wider audience and deserves the highest praise."