Photo Credit: Professional Cricketers’ Association
Cook and Adams lead the September MVP Rankings
The top four men’s and women’s domestic players have been announced for September with the vote now open for the PCA’s Player of the Month awards.
Trent Rockets and Essex seamer Sam Cook, Lancashire’s opener Keaton Jennings and the Durham bowling pair of Matthew Potts and Ben Raine have been ranked as the top four men’s players for their performances in September. For the women’s award, Southern Vipers and Southern Brave all-rounder Georgia Adams is joined by Northern Diamonds’ pair of Lauren Winfield-Hill and Hollie Armitage with Trent Rockets’ Nat Sciver completing the shortlist.
The players are selected by the PCA’s Most Valuable Player Rankings, which picks out the game’s top performers across every single fixture which forms the rankings for each competition, as well as an overall table which is how the top four is selected. The MVP takes into account batting, bowling and fielding contributions as well as match defining contributions using a unique algorithm developed with CricViz.
The PCA Player of the Month is decided by public vote on thepca.co.uk – with the poll closing on Sunday 2 October at 11am.
Men’s PCA Player of the Month
Below is a breakdown of the achievements of the top four men’s players in the table for the month of September:
Sam Cook (Essex & Trent Rockets)
Cook stole the show in September finishing on a massive 171 MVP points, 59 clear of second place.
The Essex bowler started the month by winning The Hundred with the Trent Rockets, taking the Match MVP in the final at Lord’s with match defining figures of 4-18, earning him 27 points.
In the LV= Insurance County Championship, the 25-year-old took 25 wickets at a phenomenal average of 11.4 in the month.
Cook won the Match MVP award against Kent earning 65 MVP points for brilliant match figures of 10-60.
Matthew Potts (Durham)
Having impressed for England this summer, Potts continued his good form for Durham in September taking 22 wickets at an average of 13.3 from his three LV= Insurance County Championship games.
The 23-year-old quick picked up a Match MVP award, helping Durham to beat Leicestershire by seven wickets.
In the first innings, Potts took 6-52 and backed up his performance with 7-49 giving him career best match figures of 13-101, earning him 60 points on the County Championship MVP Rankings.
Keaton Jennings (Lancashire)
The Lancashire opener continued to make run scoring at the top of the innings look easy as he scored 478 runs at an average of 79.7 in September.
The 30-year-old finished the month with 109.21 MVP points, scoring two hundreds and two fifties.
Jennings scored 72 in the final of the Royal London Cup at Trent Bridge, however Lancashire couldn’t get over the line losing to Kent by 21 runs.
As Lancashire won their final LV= Insurance County Championship game of the season by an innings and 130 runs against already crowned champions Surrey, Jennings picked up the Match MVP for a brilliant innings of 199.
Ben Raine (Durham)
Completing a competitive top four in September, Raine finished just 0.14 of a point behind Jennings, ending up on 109.07 MVP points.
The Durham bowler picked up 20 wickets during the month at an average of 19.9, including two five-fers.
The 31-year-old won two Match MVP awards in September, the first coming against Derbyshire earning 34 points for match figures of 8-104.
Raine also won the Match MVP against Sussex picking up match figures of 7-87 and earning 43 points.
Women’s PCA Player of the Month
To help make your decision on who to vote for in the women’s category, below is a quick glance at the four nominee’s achievements in September which included the final stages of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and Hundred.
Georgia Adams (Oval Invincibles & Southern Vipers)
The Southern Vipers’ skipper had a brilliant month, leading her team to the final of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy at Lord’s.
The 28-year-old earnt 81 points on the MVP table in September, scoring 162 runs and taking 10 wickets at a fantastic average of 15.8.
The all-rounder claimed the Match MVP award in the final of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy at Lord’s, scoring 70 and taking 3-34 but her side fell short losing to Northern Diamonds by two runs.
Lauren Winfield-Hill (Oval Invincibles & Northern Diamonds)
Finishing just two points behind Adams, Winfield-Hill amassed 79 points on the MVP table in a fantastic month that culminated in winning the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy at Lord’s.
The 32-year-old scored 269 runs at an average of 89.7, whilst taking six catches and three stumpings with the gloves.
The opening batter picked up a Match MVP award for a fabulous run-a-ball 125* with a catch and a stumping, earning 33 MVP points.
She also set up Nothern Diamonds brilliantly in the final of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy with 65 at the top of the order.
Hollie Armitage (Northern Diamonds)
Another winner of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy is shortlisted in third place with 54 MVP points. Armitage scored 169 runs at 84.5 alongside taking seven wickets at an average of 15.7 with the ball.
The 25-year-old picked up a Match MVP award for an eye-catching run-a-ball 131* against Western Storm, picking up figures of 2-27 and taking two catches to earn 36 MVP points.
Taking 2-46 in the final at Lord’s, Armitage played a pivotal part throughout the season leading Northern Diamonds’ to success.
Nat Sciver (Trent Rockets)
Remarkably, Sciver finds her way into the top four having played just one game in September.
The all-rounder almost single-handedly got her side to the final of The Hundred but ended up losing the Eliminator by just two runs.
Sciver took the vital wicket of opener Smriti Mandhana on her way to 1-16 with the ball and then smashed 72* off 36 balls, including five fours and five sixes, taking the Match MVP with an incredible 50 points, the highest total of the competition.
Find out more about the PCA MVP Rankings and view the men’s and women’s tables.
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.
