The England Men’s Cricket Team are currently in their first action of the summer, with day 1 of their test against Ireland taking place on Thursday.

Leading to the team is Ben Stokes, and England’s captain remains the firm favourite to land BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award later this year. 

OLBG has revealed a list of five names that are the early frontrunners for this year’s BBC SPOTY 2023 - which includes England teammates Ben Stokes and Joe Root. 

Ben Stokes is the 4/1 favourite to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. He will captain England in the Ashes this summer as they look for their first Ashes series victory since 2015. 

Two-time winner Lewis Hamilton has dropped out of the running after previously being backed at 7/1 after a mixed start to the F1 season; His Mercedes teammate George Russell features at 9/1. 

Despite the Ashes being his immediate focus, it looks likely that Ben Stokes won’t be part of England’s Cricket World Cup defence in the Autumn after he announced his retirement from the One Day International form of Cricket in July 2022. 

Heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury has been nominated for the award three times, with the last coming in 2021, and he has threatened legal action against the BBC in the past claiming that he wanted nothing to do with the award. 

Despite no female’s appearing amongst this year’s early frontrunners, the award was won by Emma Raducanu in 2021 and Beth Mead in 2022 - recording the first back-to-back female successes since the 1970s.