Photo Credit: Professional Cricketers’ Association
Masood, Barker, Compton and Brook shortlisted after scintillating start.
The four best domestic performers in April have been nominated for the PCA’s Player of the Month award – as the Most Valuable Player Rankings relaunches for 2022.
Derbyshire’s Shan Masood, Hampshire’s Keith Barker, Kent’s Ben Compton and Yorkshire’s Harry Brook have statistically been the best performers in the LV= Insurance County Championship in April.
The nominees are selected by the PCA’s MVP, which is designed to identify the game’s top performers. The MVP takes into consideration batting and bowling statistics as well as taking into account key match-defining contributions using a unique algorithm developed with CricViz – cricket’s leading analytics experts.
The MVP will run throughout the 2022 campaign, and winners will be announced for each domestic competition, including an overall winner across multi formats.
The PCA Player of the Month is decided by a public vote and you can have your say below. The poll closing on Thursday 5 May at 3pm.
This season, PCA partner Mappin & Webb will provide the winners of each award with a specially designed and engraved trophy. With 11 awards in total, the winner of the first public vote will be announced on Monday 9 May while the women’s awards start in May to recognise the best performing players in the female game, which begins later this month.
The current nominees occupy the top four spots, and they are leading the way in the domestic game following a hugely successful April for their respective counties. The final day of County Championship matches on May 1 did not count towards April’s award.
To give you an idea of which PCA member to vote for below is a brief explainer describing the four nominee’s achievements in April.
Shan Masood (Derbyshire)
Derbyshire’s Shan Masood has had a phenomenal start to the season, and he sits at the top of the MVP table with 129.34 points – more than any other player.
The left-handed opening batter has scored 713 runs in just six innings in April – including two double centuries. Masood registered his career-best score of 239 in Derbyshire’s draw with Sussex at the County Ground. Before backing that up with 219 in Derbyshire’s win over Leicestershire where he claimed the Match MVP.
In his six innings this summer, Masood has failed to reach a half-century on one occasion.
Keith Barker (Hampshire)
One of the most consistent bowlers on the county circuit, Barker has once again enjoyed a fruitful start to the LV= Insurance County Championship season totalling 120.55 MVP points.
The left-arm seamer has taken 20 wickets in April giving him 82.63 MVP points. Barker took 6/53 in Hampshire’s win over Kent at Canterbury and 5/67 against Lancashire at The Ageas Bowl.
Barker has also provided some handy runs down the order for Hampshire. The 35-year-old has scored 32.93 points for his contributions from number eight, including a half-century against Surrey at The Oval.
Ben Compton (Kent)
Kent opening batter Ben Compton has had a fantastic start to the season scoring three hundreds and two half-centuries at an average of 93 in his first four appearances – giving him a total of 119.92 MVP points.
The 28-year-old has faced 1,396 deliveries so far this summer, including the 629 balls he faced in one game against Lancashire, which saw him score watchful centuries in both innings and rightfully take the Match MVP with 61.08 points, as he tried to steer his team to a draw.
The left-hander also registered a career-best of 129 versus Essex at Chelmsford.
Harry Brook (Yorkshire)
Continuing from where he left off last summer, the cinch PCA’s Men’s Young Player of the Year, Harry Brook has enjoyed a brilliant April.
Brook sits fourth on the MVP list after gaining 109.14 points, despite playing one game less than the other nominees. Brook has put in a string of impressive performances, scoring 512 runs at an average of 171 for Yorkshire.
The 23-year-old has scored at least a half-century every time he has walked to the crease.
He made a career-best of 194 against Kent at Headingley which earned Brook the Match MVP with 36.39 points.
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.
