Flower and Olonga honoured by Cricket Writer's Club

The Zimbabwean cricketers, Andy Flower and Henry Olonga, were last night honoured by the Cricket Writers' Club during their annual dinner at Hyde Park in London.

During the recent World Cup, Flower and Olonga made their famous black armband protest against "the death of democracy" in Zimbabwe, and were subsequently forced to retire from international cricket. They were the joint recipients of the Peter Smith Memorial Award, an annual acknowledgement of an outstanding contribution to the game of cricket. Previous winners include Brian Lara in 1994, Dickie Bird in 1997, and Courtney Walsh in 2001.

Meanwhile, England's James Anderson was presented with his trophy as the Young Cricketer of the Year. Members of the Cricket Writers' Club have voted for the award every year since 1950, but for the first time, Anderson was a unanimous selection - no-one voted for anyone else.