Emily Drumm, Mark Richardson and Craig McMillan have been nominated as finalists for The National Bank Player of the Year, New Zealand Cricket's premier award, which will be announced at The National Bank New Zealand Cricket awards evening on Friday.

All three nominees for the leading award have enjoyed an outstanding 12 months of cricket.

Emily Drumm captained the CLEAR White Ferns to an historic CricInfo World Cup victory in December.

She led by example averaging 67.80 across the tournament as her side defeated arch-rivals Australia in the final. She also averaged 84.5 runs over three One-Day Internationals against England. Finally, Drumm was a major contributor in Auckland's successful defence of the State Insurance Cup, heading her province's batting averages with 45.44.

In the past 12 months Mark Richardson has accumulated the remarkable total of 2672 first class runs at an average of 66.8.

After making his Test debut at 29 years of age in the first Test of the winter against Zimbabwe he has gone from strength to strength. Seven months on he has played nine Tests and established himself as one half of the New Zealand opening pair. He has the world-class Test average of 54.61 and celebrated his maiden Test century in the final match of the summer.

He also scored a first class triple century against Zimbabwe `A', a double century for New Zealand `A' against Sussex, and 1000 domestic runs in a season.

Craig McMillan has had a golden 2001 with the CLEAR Black Caps culminating in his being awarded The National Bank International Cricketer of the Year award at the end of the international series against Pakistan.

That award covered the home season, whereas The National Bank Player of the Year award covers the past 12 months. In the longer time-frame he has played nine Tests averaging 43.46 with the bat including one century and five half-centuries. At his swashbuckling best in the final act of the summer he hit 26 runs off one over setting a world record for most runs in an over.

In a departure from previous years New Zealand Cricket has announced three finalists for each of its leading awards.

The nominees are:

1. The National Bank Player of the Year Nominees: Emily Drumm Craig McMillan Mark Richardson

2. Redpath Cup Awarded to the most outstanding batsman in men's first class cricket Nominees: Matthew Bell Mark Richardson Mathew Sinclair

Matthew Bell has played 13 first class matches over the summer, scoring a total of 1092 runs at an average of 52.00 including six centuries, five in the Shell Trophy and a Test century in the last match of the summer. His Trophy form earned a recall to the CLEAR Black Caps. Mathew Sinclair's highlight of the season was 204 not out against Pakistan in the second drawn Test. He also scored 150 in the second Test against South Africa. Across 18 first class matches he scored a total of 1547 runs at an average of 67.26. Mark Richardson's 2672 runs were scored over 27 first class matches in four nations including nine Tests. His season average was 66.80.

3. Winsor Cup Awarded to the most outstanding bowler in men's first class cricket Nominees: Chris Drum Chris Martin Daryl Tuffey

Chris Drum's outstanding Shell Trophy season where he took 39 wickets at 20.07 and a further eight for New Zealand `A' against Pakistan earned him a call-up to the CLEAR Black Caps for the second Test in the final series of the summer. Unfortunately a freak injury in the field prevented him from making a significant contribution at Test level. Chris Martin had an extraordinary debut year for the CLEAR Black Caps. His first Test was the first match against South Africa and he took full advantage returning the best figures of the New Zealand bowlers in that series by claiming 11 wickets at 26.00. He went on to play seven Tests and take 28 Test wickets at 28.10. His first class statistics were 45 wickets at 31.15. Daryl Tuffey took 70 first class wickets over the year, 22 more than any other bowler, and these at an average of 21.10. These figures include the remarkable spell of 16 overs in which he took seven wickets for 12 runs against the State Wellington Firebirds in the Shell Trophy earning his recall to the CLEAR Black Caps for the Pakistan series. Across the five Tests he took 19 wickets at 29.57.

4. Walter Hadlee Trophy for Batting in One-Day Internationals Nominees: Chris Cairns Craig McMillan Roger Twose

In spite of his sustaining a serious knee injury and missing the Test series against South Africa and all of the home season, Chris Cairns made a tremendous impact in the 11 ODIs he played. He averaged 40.50 an innings at a strike rate of 89. His highest score was 102 not out and who could forget his man-of-the-match performance in the ICC Knockout Tournament as he led his side to victory with a match-winning 102 not out off 113 balls? By contrast, Craig McMillan played almost three times as many ODIs (27), scoring 758 runs at an average of 37.90 and a strike rate of 85. His highlight was the quickfire century against Pakistan when he smashed an unbeaten 104 off 75 balls. Across the five ODIs against Pakistan he scored 247, averaging 82.33 with a strike rate of 90. Roger Twose topped the CLEAR Black Caps ODI averages for the 12 months with 41.22 across 26 matches. He has a season of two halves topping the averages in Zimbabwe 98.50 and South Africa 57.40 and averaging 67.66 across the ICC Knockout Tournament. Statistically he was less successful during The National Bank series but still delighted spectators with the belligerent style which is his trademark.

5. Walter Hadlee Trophy for Bowling in One-Day Internationals Nominees: Nathan Astle Chris Harris Daryl Tuffey

Nathan Astle has clearly established himself as a genuine bowling option in the one day game. Across 26 ODIs he bowled 137 overs (second in total only to Chris Harris) taking 18 wickets at 34.94. Chris Harris also played 26 ODIs across the season bowling 201.5 overs. He took 19 wickets at 45.63 at a rate per over of 4.29. Daryl Tuffey made his ODI debut in September against Zimbabwe. He played 10 matches claiming 18 wickets at an average of 22.05. Of particular note was his contribution to the ODI series victory over Pakistan taking 13 wickets at 15.23.

6. Ruth Martin Cup – awarded to the most outstanding batsman in women's cricket Nominees: Emily Drumm Anna O'Leary Haidee Tiffen

Emily Drumm led the CLEAR White Ferns' batting figures for the CricInfo World Cup (ave 67.80, strike rate 84.11) and the ODI series against England (ave 84.50). Typical of her courage and determination was her innings in the World Cup when she hit a gutsy 74 runs against defending champions Australia, batting with a hairline fracture of the elbow and a broken finger after being struck twice. Wellington opening bat Anna O'Leary came of age this summer averaging 51.33 across the World Cup including three half-centuries and getting the CLEAR White Ferns off to a solid start. Statistics only ever tell part of a story and Haidee Tiffen's average of 46.75 across the World Cup belies the impact of her contribution. A hard-hitting middle-order bat, Tiffen smashed a determined 58 runs off 79 balls to steer the CLEAR White Ferns to a win against Sri Lanka during round robin play.

7. Phyl Blackler Cup – awarded to the most outstanding bowler in women's cricket Nominees: Catherine Campbell Katrina Keenan Rachel Pullar

Catherine Campbell was last year's recipient of this trophy and during her final season of international cricket she notched up her 78th wicket to equal the highest number of ODI wickets in women's cricket history. During the CricInfo World Cup she took the remarkable figures of 0-3 off ten overs in a round robin match against The Netherlands. She took seven World Cup wickets at 25.57 bowling off-spin. Campbell has recently announced her retirement from all cricket after a career spanning 12 years representing New Zealand. Katrina Keenan (nee Withers) made her international debut in 1995 and has been the recipient of this award three times. During the CricInfo Women's World Cup the Cantabrian fast bowler claimed 12 wickets at an average of 10.66, with the miserly economy rate of 1.85 runs per over. Rachel Pullar took eight World Cup wickets at an average of 24.37. She claimed a further 15 wickets at 20.06 during the State Insurance Cup, and was a key contributor in Auckland's successful defence of the inter-provincial women's title.

The awards will be announced at The National Bank New Zealand Cricket Awards Evening at the Christchurch Convention Centre on Friday 6 April.

© CricInfo