WITH the 2014/15 cricket season almost upon us, the Daily Liberal is proud to announce that we will once again be sponsoring our own player of the year award.
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Last season saw Macquarie's Jason Green take out the inaugural Barry Hildebrandt Medal, named after the former sports editor of this publication who retired in 2013 after 32 years in the job.
Green scored five centuries last season but had to hold off the challenge of a number of players to take out the prize, which was awarded by Hildebrandt at the Dubbo District Cricket Association presentation dinner in April.
His performances were enough to help propel the Blues into the first grade competition's grand final, which they ultimately lost to Rugby.
The format of the award will remain the same this season, with current Liberal sports editor Ben Walker and sports reporter Nick Guthrie awarding votes from each Whitney Cup match on a 3-2-1 basis.
No extra weighting is given to two-day games over one-day games, with every match being assessed in the same manner.
"We're extremely happy with how the award was received last season and are happy to be involved again in 2014/15," Walker said.
"For us it's a great way to honour the man who is synonymous with sport in Dubbo, and who I'm told was a pretty handy cricketer for CYMS back in his day.
"I think 'Baz' took great pride in having the award named after him last season, and I think he was happy that a veteran of the Whitney Cup in Jason Green was the first person to win it. It probably helped that 'Greeny' is a lefty just like Baz was."
The first chance for players to earn votes in the 2014/15 Barry Hildebrandt Medal will come over the next two Saturdays, with the first round of the Whitney Cup being two-day matches.
