Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The award was born in 1996 when Neil Burns, the former Somerset wicket-keeper-batsman, and now a director of NBC Sports Management Ltd, met Denis Compton while playing for Sir Paul Getty''s XI. Burns put forward his ideas for a structured programme that would see promising young English players sent for coaching in South Africa during the English winter. Compton was interested in the proposals, and after the approval of the TCCB was obtained, the first awards were made that same year.