Kevin Pietersen Regains Lead In MVP Race - 03/03/2009
Unsurprisingly after the run-laden fourth Test in Barbados it is the batsmen who have made the most significant progress in this week's England MVP. Kevin Pietersen has retaken his place at the top of the overall MVP from Stuart Broad with scores of 41 and 72 not out, while Andrew Strauss has closed to within six points of Jimmy Anderson at the top of the Test MVP with just one match remaining in this year's race.
Both batsmen have broken the 1000-run barrier for this year's Test MVP campaign with Strauss, whose 142 in the first innings was his fourth hundred in ten innings, leading the way with 1083 runs. Pietersen has 1050 Test runs, which form a healthy chunk of his 1585 runs scored across all forms. The overall MVP race will be decided only after the one-dayers, where all of this year's major MVP protagonists will be fighting it out.
Broad will certainly be in the mix but his immediate concern will be the playing surface in Trinidad for the final Test. The Nottinghamshire all-rounder, who has enjoyed a fine series, bowled 32 overs without success against the likes of Sarwan and Ramdin in Barbados on a pitch, which might have required a fortnight to decide a winner. Broad has scored 419 runs and taken 52 across all forms, 343 and 26 of which have come in the Test arena.
Anderson was the pick of the England seamers in Barbados taking 3-125, earning him 11 valuable points, which have kept him top of the Test MVP a position he has held from the start of the campaign back in May when he dismantled New Zealand. Anderson has taken 43 wickets in Tests - 14 more than his nearest challenger, Monty Panesar.
Graeme Swann's star continues its meteoric rise. The Notts off-spinner has returned 21 wickets from his four Tests, including two five-wicket hauls in the last two. Swann is a late-comer to this year's MVP race but he averages 27 points-per-game in Tests and is up to eighth spot overall.
The other significant performance of the Test came from Alastair Cook who finally converted a fifty into a century. England's opening batsman scored 233 runs in the match and took 39 MVP points from the game to move him up to fifth in the Test MVP. He has scored 912 runs in this year's Test MVP including 10 fifties and his 139 in Barbados.
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