Photo Credit: Professional Cricketers’ Association
Higgins and Scholfield top the April MVP Rankings
The PCA Player of the Month is back for 2023 and the top four men’s and women’s domestic players have been announced for April with the vote now open for supporters to select their winner.
Middlesex all-rounder Ryan Higgins leads the rankings with three openers following behind him in Kent’s Ben Compton, Nottinghamshire’s Ben Duckett and Lancashire’s Keaton Jennings who have been ranked as the top four men’s players for their April performances.
For the women’s award, South East Stars all-rounder Paige Scholfield, Northern Diamonds’ Lauren Winfield-Hill and The Blaze spin bowling pair of Sarah Glenn and Lucy Higham complete 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 Friday 5 May at 10am.
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 April with some players having played three LV= Insurance County Championship games and others a game ahead on four:
Ryan Higgins (Middlesex)
Higgins stole the show in April finishing on an incredible 147 MVP points, a huge 45 points ahead of second place.
The Middlesex all-rounder impressed with 327 runs at an average of 54.5 which included four half centuries, earning him second spot of the batting table for April with 83 points.
With ball in hand, Higgins continued his good form, taking 12 wickets at an average of 20.4 alongside three catches, all adding to his mammoth points tally.
The 28-year old won two Match MVP awards in the month against Northamptonshire and Essex. Securing 45 points for a first innings 70 and then 41 in the second alongside taking the wickets of Dan Lawrence and Alastair Cook.
Ben Compton (Kent)
The only other player to secure over 100 points in April was Ben Compton who also enjoyed a heavy run scoring month.
The Kent opener amassed 377 runs at an average of 62.9 including a hundred and two fifties.
The second highest LV= Insurance County Championship run scorer for the month also won a Match MVP award.
In Kent’s seven-wicket win over Northamptonshire, the 29-year-old scored a match-winning unbeaten 114 in a 167 run partnership with Jack Leaning.
Compton will be hoping for a similar month of scoring in May having finished April at the top of the MVP batting table with 92 points.
Ben Duckett
Close behind Compton with a brilliant 97 MVP points for the month is Nottinghamshire’s Ben Duckett.
Another opening batter high up on the MVP rankings with a good run scoring month, the 28-year-old scored 349 runs at an average of 58.2 in the LV= Insurance County Championship alongside taking six catches.
The third highest run scorer for the month was also third on the MVP table and he won a Match MVP award against Middlesex.
A blistering knock of 177 off 258 balls with 17 fours and a six secured the England opener 44 points.
Keaton Jennings (Lancashire)
Fourth on the Men’s MVP table for April is another opening batter, this time it’s Lancashire captain Keaton Jennings who achieved 84 MVP points.
Jennings is the leading run scorer in domestic cricket this year with 378 runs at an average of 94.5, including a hundred and two fifties.
Against Somerset, the 30-year-old picked up the Match MVP award thanks to scoring the highest individual total of the month.
Jennings’ free-flowing knock of 189 came from just 247 balls and included 27 fours and two maximums. The left-hander played a crucial part in a couple of impressive partnership too, putting on 154 with Luke Wells and 222 with Josh Bohannon.
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 April with each player having played two Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy matches.
Paige Scholfield (SE Stars)
Despite the lack of games during April, Scholfield topped the table by more than 10 points, securing 47 from her two games.
Scoring 142 runs, only being dismissed once and with a strike-rate of 92.8, the South East Stars all-rounder also chipped in with two wickets.
A maiden century earned her a Match MVP award against Thunder picking up 29 MVP points.
Scholfield smashed an unbeaten 111 off just 90 balls with 11 fours and five sixes in a 134-run partnership with Alice Davidson-Richards as Stars equalled the highest team score in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy of 334.
The 27-year-old also took figures of 1-10 off four overs as Stars beat Thunder by 131 runs.
Lauren Winfield-Hill (Northern Diamonds)
Second on the MVP table for April is Northern Diamonds keeper-batter Lauren Winfield-Hill with 36 points.
The Diamonds opening batter won the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy Player of the Year award in 2022 and has continued to impress this time around.
The 32-year-old scored 117 runs at 58.5 with a healthy strike-rate of 98.3 to go alongside three stumpings.
Winfield-Hill picked up a Match MVP award against Storm in a 105-run victory for her side, taking home 26 points for 75 off 79 and two stumpings.
Sarah Glenn (The Blaze)
With a strong start to life with The Blaze, Sarah Glenn had an impressive April taking home 33 MVP points.
The leg-spinner took five wickets at an average of 10 with an astonishing economy rate of 2.63 from the 19 overs she bowled.
The 23-year-old secured a Match MVP award against Sunrisers with a fantastic bowling display of 4-22, dismissing the entire top four in the process and chipping in with 30 off 27 balls to add 22 points to her monthly total.
Lucy Higham (The Blaze)
Another Blaze spinner completes a competitive top four for April in the Women’s award with Lucy Higham picking up 32 points.
Taking five wickets at average of 7.4 with another brilliant economy rate of 2.64, Higham also picked up a match MVP award against Central Sparks.
Securing career best figures of 5-19 and a first professional five-fer, the 25-year-old also scored 24 to pick up 31 MVP points as The Blaze won by 59 runs.
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.
