Photo Credit: Professional Cricketers’ Association
Eight players nominated for penultimate awards of the season.
Eight of the top performers in domestic cricket during August are up for the latest PCA Player of the Month awards.
The four nominees for each of the men’s and women’s awards have been identified by the PCA Most Valuable Player Rankings, a bespoke algorithm which was designed by the PCA, the players and CricViz to give the most accurate representation of the best players in the game.
Simon Harmer, Liam Livingstone, Tom Westley and Tim David are nominated for the penultimate men’s award of the 2021 season, whilst Eve Jones, Alice Capsey, Linsey Smith and Erin Burns are up for the equivalent women’s award.
The winners will be decided via a public vote on the PCA website, which will remain open until 2pm on Thursday 2 September.
Men’s PCA Player of the Month
Another bumper month of men’s domestic cricket saw the conclusion of both The Hundred and the Royal London Cup, before four Vitality Blast quarter-finals preceded the first two days of the latest round of LV= Insurance County Championship fixtures.
The MVP Rankings have highlighted the contribution of cross-format players, as each of this month’s four men’s nominees have appeared in multiple competitions during August.
Here is a brief summary of their individual highlights this month:
Simon Harmer (Essex)
Back-to-back Overall MVP Simon Harmer is never far from the top of the MVP Rankings, and that has been the case once again this month as he has totalled 112 MVP points – the most of any men’s domestic player during the same time period.
The off-spinner’s consistent quality has enabled him to claim at least one wicket in each of his eight outings this month, and multiple wickets on five occasions, including 3-46 during the first innings of Essex’s ongoing County Championship fixture against Glamorgan. Harmer will be looking to win his second Player of the Month award of the season, having previously claimed the prize in May.
Liam Livingstone (Lancashire & Birmingham Phoenix)
Liam Livingstone caps off a highly successful August from an individual perspective, having already been named The Hundred MVP on the 21st of the month. In total, he has scored 99.3 MVP points from his eight appearances in August – second only behind Harmer in terms of men’s domestic cricket.
The 28-year-old has excelled across three separate competitions, his individual highlight coming during Phoenix’s final group stage fixture against Northern Superchargers on the 17th. During that game, Livingstone smashed an unbeaten 92 and claimed 3-25 to score 45.8 MVP points – the highest total in a single fixture during the men’s Hundred.
Tom Westley (Essex)
Tom Westley joins his teammate Harmer in being nominated for the August PCA Player of the Month, having scored 96.8 MVP points from his eight appearances this month.
Like Harmer, Westley was a consistent performer during Essex’s Royal London Cup campaign, eventually finishing third in the RLC MVP behind only Harmer and eventual champion Scott Borthwick. Westley passed 50 on two occasions in the competition in August, and also chipped in with the ball claiming seven wickets at 25.1 apiece.
Tim David (Surrey & Southern Brave)
This month’s men’s line-up is completed by Surrey and Southern Brave man Tim David, who scored 96.6 MVP points from his nine appearances during August.
The bulk of David’s MVP points tally derived from a sensational spell of form in the Royal London Cup which saw him make consecutive scores of 140 not out, 52 not out and 102 in the space of five days. David also proved an unlikely hero for Brave during the final stages of the men’s Hundred, producing a game-changing run out of Livingstone to reverse the direction of the final, having only been drafted into the squad for the eliminator fixture one day previously.
Women’s PCA Player of the Month
In the women’s game, August saw the bulk of The Hundred take place as well as the final three fixtures of the Charlotte Edwards Cup group phase.
Three of this month’s nominees appeared in both competitions, whilst Erin Burns is included on the back of her performances in The Hundred alone.
Here are the nominees’ best moments from August:
Eve Jones (Central Sparks & Birmingham Phoenix)
July winner Eve Jones makes it two PCA Player of the Month nominations in the space of two months, but this time she has scored more MVP points than anyone else with 130.6 – almost 25 more than her closest competitor.
Jones has been in imperious form this month, passing 50 on five occasions, including consecutive scores of 51, 76 and 76 in the Charlotte Edwards Cup as Sparks won two of their final three fixtures in the group stage. Amazingly, Jones was named MVP of the Match four times in her six group stage appearances in the competition, and as a result she leads the CE Cup MVP going into Finals Day this Sunday.
Alice Capsey (South East Stars & Oval Invincibles)
17-year-old Alice Capsey has been one of the rising stars of the 2021 domestic season, and she has continued her fine form into August scoring 115.8 MVP points from her nine appearances.
Capsey has contributed with both bat and ball, scoring almost equal MVP points for her batting (48.3) and bowling (52.5) throughout the month. Crucially, she returned eight August wickets in the Hundred at 14.1 runs each as her side went all the way in the competition and were crowned champions.
Linsey Smith (Northern Diamonds & Northern Superchargers)
Linsey Smith earns her first nomination for the PCA Player of the Month award following a month which saw her score 88.9 MVP points during her seven appearances – two fewer than both Jones and Capsey.
Only two women players scored more bowling MVP points this month than Smith’s 59.2, the economical left-arm spinner having picked up crucial wickets throughout both The Hundred and the Charlotte Edwards Cup. Smith’s individual performances have translated into team success as her four wickets in the final two Charlotte Edwards Cup group stage fixtures helped Diamonds to qualify for Finals Day on Sunday.
Erin Burns (Birmingham Phoenix)
Erin Burns has done an impressive job to secure a PCA Player of the Month nomination for August, as she is the only one of the women’s nominees to have appeared in just one competition, aggregating 86.4 MVP points from her six Hundred appearances.
A late surge in the competition saw Burns make scores of 45, 38, 28 not out and 23 to translate to 56.1 batting MVP points this month. Burns also chipped in with four wickets via her right-arm spin, bowling with an impressive economy which saw her go for a maximum of 21 runs in a single innings in August.
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.
