Strauss Crowned As England MVP In Test Cricket - 10/03/2009 - The Professional Cricketers' Association

Strauss Crowned As England MVP In Test Cricket - 10/03/2009

The thrilling climax to the Trinidad Test had significant ramifications not just for the two teams concerned and their respective sets of supporters but also for this year's Test MVP campaign. One more wicket for Jimmy Anderson would have seen him hold on to the top position he has occupied all year, but ultimately it was Andrew Strauss, who timed his run for the line to perfection to win by a solitary point. Strauss' 142 in the first innings was his fifth hundred in 11 innings, ensuring he finished the year as England's leading run-scorer. The England captain scored 1239 runs, including six hundreds, the first of which helped steer Michael Vaughan's team to victory against New Zealand at Old Trafford back in May. Strauss succeeds Ryan Sidebottom, who was crowned Test MVP after England's tour to New Zealand this time last year.

Anderson was heroic in Trinidad as he had been for much of the year in Test cricket. He opened up a huge gap after the home internationals against New Zealand and South Africa and was still 47 points in front after the Chennai Test, where Strauss recorded a century in each innings. Some ludicrously flat pitches away from home tipped the balance in favour of the batsmen and he found wickets harder to come by. In the West Indies Anderson was left out of the first Test in Jamaica, which was played on the most bowler-friendly surface of the series, yet by the end of the series he was once again the captain's ‘go to' bowler as England pushed for victory. 34 of his 47 Test wickets in this year's campaign were taken at home, which tells its own story.

Kevin Pietersen, who maintains his lead at the top of the overall MVP after a powerful hundred in the second innings in Trinidad, finished in third spot in the Test MVP. Pietersen put his disappointment surrounding the England captaincy at the turn of the year behind him to cement his reputation as one of the best batsmen in the world by scoring 402 runs in the West Indies series. His 102 in the last Test was his only century of the series but came off just 92 balls and represented 43% of the team's total. Pietersen finished second behind Strauss in the Test run-scores list with 1162 Test runs for the year, including five hundreds. Across all forms he has 1697 runs with two further hundreds.

Despite the flat pitches away from home Stuart Broad continued his impressive start to his England career finishing fourth in the Test MVP. The Nottinghamshire bowling all-rounder took 12 wickets in the West Indies taking his tally for the year in Tests to 29 in addition to 375 runs, which included three consecutive half-centuries against New Zealand and South Africa. Broad's best return was 5-85 in Jamaica and like Anderson he toiled away admirably all tour. Across all forms he has scored 451 runs and taken 55 wickets, which sees him second in the overall MVP, 18 points behind Pietersen with five ODIs and the Twenty20 international to come.

Alastair Cook and Paul Collingwood finished fifth and sixth respectively, separated by just six points. Cook scored 948 Test runs with 10 fifties and a hundred, while Collingwood notched four hundreds and two fifties in his 822 Test runs.

For more information and to see the full tables and leaders in individual competitions click on the links below.

Overall Rankings - MVP
LVCC Rankings
Friends Provident Rankings
Twenty20 Rankings
NatWest Pro40 Rankings