COLCHESTER’S Graham Napier says it would be a “huge honour” to cap his memorable final season as a professional cricketer by landing a major individual award.

The Essex all-rounder, who earlier this month called time on his glittering 20-year career by helping the county clinch promotion to the top flight of the County Championship, is in the running to land the Natwest Players’ Player of the Year accolade following a superb final year in the game.

Former Gilberd School pupil Napier will discover tonight if he has landed the flagship prize, which is voted for by current professional cricketers in England and Wales, when he attends the NatWest PCA Awards at Grosvenor House Hotel, in London.

Napier, who claimed 97 wickets in all formats and 378 runs in his farewell season, is up against Northamptonshire’s Ben Duckett and Keaton Jennings of Durham for the award.

Napier told the Daily Gazette: “I think it’s unlikely that I’ll win but it’s a huge honour just to be nominated in the first place.

“I hold the respect from my fellow professionals who also play the game in high regard.

“It’s great to be recognised like that in my final season, after the best part of 20 years of playing cricket.”

Napier insists he has no regrets about deciding to retire, despite enjoying a superb season with both bat and ball for Essex.

The 36-year-old announced his retirement in January, after accepting a director of cricket academy role at the Royal Hospital School, in Ipswich.

Napier said: “I went into the ground this morning and all of the contracted players were doing their end-of-season fitness testing and the reality sunk in a bit.

“There’s an element of sadness about it but I made my decision a year ago to hang up my boots and the last six months have all been geared towards having the best season possible.

“There are no regrets – I set my stall out a year ago when the Royal Hospital School approached me and all of this has been a year’s work and it’s taken a lot out of my physically.

“It’s got harder and harder to recover from every game and play the style of cricket you want to play and not leave anything in the tank.

“It’s taken its toll on my body massively and there comes a time when you have to make a decision so the time was right.”