KENT opener David Fulton has collected yet another national cricket award. Readers of the Wisden Cricket Monthly magazine named the county's right-hander, who celebrated his 30th birthday this month, as their batsman of the year.

During a hugely successful summer for Kent, Fulton scored 1,892 first-class runs at an average of 75.68 to top a poll of 929 readers by securing 19.4 per cent of the vote. Ironically, Fulton was the only English batsman to feature in the top five in the poll, yet he was not selected for this winter's England tour to India despite holding off the challenge of Australians Darren Lehmann, Damien Martyn, Steve Waugh and Michael Hussey to win Wisden's award.

Having already won the Professional Cricketers' Association player-of-the-season award, Fulton will complete a trophy hat-trick next month when he collects the new Mike Denness Award as Kent's batsman of the year.

In accepting his Wisden award Fulton, who is spending the winter months writing on the Medway Today sports desk in Chatham, paid tribute to skipper Matthew Fleming and last season's coaching advisor John Inverarity.

Fulton said: "Over the previous five seasons I have been thought of as a stoic batsman, the man who took the shine off the ball. But that wasn't really me.

In a clear reference to former Kent coach John Wright, he said: "I was trying to bat the way someone else wanted me to. I'd made some adjustments to my grip and stance, but the big change was when Matthew and John, as new captain and coach, told us: 'Go and do your own thing'. It was a breath of fresh air."