Photo Credit: Professional Cricketers’ Association
Rankings reset as road to next year’s World Cup begins.
The PCA England Women Most Valuable Player Rankings will return on Tuesday for the first time this winter as Heather Knight’s side take on New Zealand in the first of three ODIs, with the 2022 World Cup on the horizon.
The PCA’s purpose-built MVP algorithm will keep track of the top performers throughout the 50-over series, which will see England compete in one fixture in Christchurch before moving on to play the final two games in Dunedin later this week.
It will be the team’s first international cricket since whitewashing the West Indies 5-0 in a home IT20 series last September, and their first ODIs since December 2019, when they defeated Pakistan 2-0 in Malaysia.
Following the West Indies series, Sarah Glenn was named both the Overall and IT20 MVP for summer 2020, and the leg-spinner is also the most recent winner of the ODI MVP after performing brilliantly throughout her breakthrough tour of Malaysia last winter, which earned her 36 MVP points at an average of 12 per game.
Going into this tour, England have won one and lost one of their two warm-up fixtures since they emerged from a 14-day quarantine on New Zealand’s South Island.
Despite the single loss to a New Zealand XI, Nat Sciver, Danni Wyatt, Sophie Ecclestone and skipper Knight were all in the runs, each of the quartet passing 50 during the two fixtures.
All-rounder Sciver, who was named the Overall MVP last winter following the conclusion of the T20 World Cup, made 75 at more than a run a ball during the first fixture in Queenstown.
Meanwhile Wyatt, Ecclestone and Knight made 54, 52 and 51 not out respectively in the second fixture as England lost 12 wickets whilst gaining some crucial time out in the middle before the upcoming series against the fifth-ranked ODI side in the world.
Whilst Glenn and Sciver will be looking to build on their recent MVP wins in the international arena, the returning Tash Farrant will aim to make an impact on the Rankings after finishing in the top 20 of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy (RHFT) MVP with 54 points last summer.
Sophia Dunkley could also be in line to make an appearance after breaking back into the international squad during last summer’s West Indies series. The South East Stars all-rounder’s shortened RHFT campaign saw her average 13.5 points-per-game for her side.
With England due to play their first cricket in front of crowds for over a year, and a World Cup in New Zealand on the horizon, there is plenty of motivation for Farrant, Dunkley and the entire squad to rise up the MVP Rankings this week.
View the England MVP Rankings.
Find out more about the PCA MVP Rankings.
Keep up-to-date with all the latest MVP news by following the @pcaMVP on Twitter.
Name of Author: Professional Cricketers Association
The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA), founded in 1967 by former England fast bowler Fred Rumsey as the Cricketers’ Association, represents past and present first-class cricketers in England and Wales. In the 1970s, the PCA established a standard employment contract and minimum wage for professional cricketers. It also helped create a pension scheme in 1995 and launched the magazine All Out Cricket and the ACE UK Educational Programme in 2002.
