Samit Patel’s terrific season with the bat has seen the 22-year-old shortlisted for Metro’s Cricketer of the Year award.

The Nottinghamshire star picked up the newspaper’s monthly award in June after two match winning unbeaten half-centuries in the Twenty20 Cup, and finished the year four Championship hundreds at an average of more than 50.

Former Warwickshire and England opener Nick Knight, now an analyst with Sky Sports, said: “I really rate Samit, he’s a very dangerous player who will soon be in contention for England.”

The award, in partnership with the Sky Sports’ coaching scheme, puts the emphasis on finding the finest emerging English cricketers on the county scene, and excludes Test players.

Performances in the LV County County Championship, Friends Provident Trophy, NatWest Pro40 League and Twenty20 Cup were all taken into account.

Patel is up against Glamorgan seamer James Harris, Durham’s Phil Mustard and Yorkshire’s Adil Rashid for the award.

To vote for Patel, click here.