Swann reaps rewards of a year to remember

ENGLAND’S new player of the year Graeme Swann is still pinching himself after an extraordinary 12 months. Swann’s remarkable rise was rewarded when he was named England’s Cricketer of the Year at an awards ceremony in the Long Room at Lord’s last night.

The 31-year-old off-spinner completed a hectic and high-profile list of engagements, which included a Downing Street reception for Paul Collingwood’s World Twenty20- winning squad.

Swann recalled the past 12 months of achievement – including last summer’s Ashes victory – for England and himself, and said: ‘I know I’ve had a decent year in all three forms of the game. ‘But when you look at the list of players we’ve got and how well some of them have done, you actually take a step back and realise how good a year it’s been for me.’

Swann, who will take on Bangladesh in the first Test on Thursday, won the award ahead of Andrew Strauss, Collingwood, Stuart Broad and James Anderson. He added: ‘If you’d told me this three years ago, I’d have laughed at you and said “there’s no chance”. It’s a nice bit of cherry on the cake. ‘I’m just enjoying every game, going in and thinking “this is going to be brilliant fun” – doing the job I always dreamed of but that almost never happened.’