New Year Honours list: England cricketers handed gongs for World Cup victory

28 December 2019, 08:40

England's Cricket World Cup heroes have had their summer triumph recognised by being named on the New Year Honours list.

The star of the summer, Ben Stokes, has been awarded an OBE after his instrumental batting performance at Lord's that led England towards their first World Cup trophy.

Just six weeks later, the all-rounder pulled off one of the greatest innings in Test history against Australia when he single-handedly turned the Third Ashes Test around at Headingley with 135 unbeaten runs.

Meanwhile, England's World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan has been made a CBE for his calm and measured leadership throughout the tournament.

Test skipper and England's top run-scorer at the World Cup Joe Root was recognised with an MBE, as well as wicketkeeper Jos Buttler who got the match-winning run-out in the nail-biting Super Over at Lord's.

The team's Australian coach Trevor Bayliss picked up an OBE, while Colin Graves, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, received a CBE.

Rising England star Jofra Archer was a notable exception from the list after he claimed the most wickets for England in the international tournament and bowling the decisive Super Over in the final.

The refusal to recognise the whole team with honours is likely a reflection of the perception that awarding all players - plus backroom staff - in the 2005 Ashes success was excessive.

This year's beneficiaries are in line with those from the England Women's side who won the World Cup at Lord's in 2017.

That year, captain Heather Knight, coach Mark Robinson, player of the tournament Tammy Beaumont, player of the final Anya Shrubsole and director of women's cricket Clare Connor were all recipients of honours.

Other cricketing names to be recognised include former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, who has received a knighthood, and Colin Graves, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board since 2015, who has been handed a CBE.

Alan Knott, considered one of the game's greatest-ever wicketkeepers, can now add an MBE to his record of 95 Test caps and 1,211 first-class dismissals.

Elsewhere in sport, Baroness Sue Campbell, the director of women's football at the Football Association, has been awarded a damehood for services to sport.

She also served as chair of UK Sport between 2003 and 2013, a period which saw Team GB make huge progress in the Olympic and Paralympic medals tables.

Solheim Cup-winning captain Catriona Matthew and two-time Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones have been awarded an OBE, along with Rosemary Mayglothling, who served as technical director at British Rowing between 2001 and 2016.

Jill Scott, part of the England football squad which reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in France in the summer, receives an MBE, as do England netball stars Serena Guthrie and Joanne Harten, television sports presenter Gabby Logan, Olympic heptathlon bronze medallist Kelly Sotherton, former world squash champion Laura Massaro and British Gymnastics chief executive Jane Allen.

There is also an MBE for Lizzie Jones, who founded the Danny Jones Defibrillator Fund in memory of her husband who died from an undiagnosed heart condition during a rugby league match.

Two of the biggest names in horse racing, trainers Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson, have both been awarded OBEs.

Nicholls has been jump racing's champion trainer 11 times, while Henderson has achieved the same feat five times.

Former Northern Ireland football captain Aaron Hughes, who won 112 caps for his country, has been awarded an MBE.