Broad Is England's Most Valuable Player - 06/04/2009 - The Professional Cricketers' Association

Broad Is England's Most Valuable Player - 06/04/2009

After 37 matches spanning 12 months across three formats, Stuart Broad emerged victorious as England's MVP for 2008-09. Broad finished eight points clear of Kevin Pietersen having scored 464 runs and taken 64 wickets in what has been a remarkably consistent second year in international cricket for the Nottinghamshire paceman.

Broad's Test performances against New Zealand back in May were more solid than eye-catching but scores of 25, 30 and 64 confirmed his all-round potential. Then, as the ODIs kicked in, he started to rack up the points. In the first ODI against the Black Caps at the Riverside he returned figures of 8-2-16-2 to earn 14 MVP points, a haul he bettered two matches later in Bristol after an economical 10-4-14-2.

He greeted South Africa's Test side with an implacable blade that evoked memories of Broad senior, notching scores of 76 and 67, while he also chipped in with regular wickets. Under Pietersen's captaincy he took 3-44 in the triumphant Oval Test before devastating Graeme Smith's side in the second ODI at Trent Bridge with figures of 10-3-23-5 as the Proteas were dismissed for a paltry 83. In that match Broad's wickets were all top-order players, which under the PCA's unique formula earn a bowler more points than tail-end scalps.

India proved a barren hunting ground for England but Broad again impressed, particularly in the second ODI in Indore where he reduced India to 29-3 with an inspired new-ball burst. He returned to capture the prized wicket of in-form Yuvraj Singh before whacking 22 off 11 balls in a futile attempt with the bat late in the game.

The West Indies tour started with Broad declaring himself unavailable to play in the IPL preferring instead to concentrate on his England future. He immediately returned career best figures in the first Test in Jamaica of 29-7-85-5 and took 3-69 in the second innings of the match at the Antiguan Recreation Ground having set up a first innings declaration with a belligerent 44 off 55 balls with the bat.

Broad finished fourth in the Test MVP, third in the Twenty20 MVP and first in the ODI MVP. He was England's leading wicket taker across all cricket but was particularly impressive in ODIs taking 32 wickets - nine more than the next best bowler Andrew Flintoff - at an economy rate of under 5 runs per over.

Flintoff finished the MVP campaign with a hat-trick in St. Lucia to earn England a series win and himself 22 MVP points. The big all-rounder came second to Broad in the ODI MVP despite a far superior points-per-game average. Flintoff averaged over 11 points per ODI, Broad just below 9 points, while no one else in the top ten could average 7 points per game. Broad finished 29 points clear by virtue of having played seven more ODIs than Flintoff. Despite a large workload Broad played 35 games across all cricket; only Pietersen played more.

Pietersen had another fine year. He amassed 1789 runs, took four wickets and was the only ever present player, although his back spasm in the penultimate ODI in Barbados, which caused him to leave the field, might ultimately have cost him the MVP title.

Pietersen scored five Test centuries, two one-day centuries and had three other scores in the 90s. He finished third in the Test MVP, second in the Twenty20 MVP and third in the ODI MVP. In Pietersen's case, however, bare statistics don't come close to telling the story of his year.

Andrew Strauss was the revelation of the second half of the campaign. Between December 11^th and March 6^th he scored five hundreds in six Tests (discounting the abandoned match at North Sound Antigua) before notching another on March 22^nd in the second ODI against the West Indies. Those six innings alone earned the new England captain 144 MVP points and his dramatic surge in form was enough to see him sneak past Jimmy Anderson to win the Test MVP.

The Twenty20 MVP went to Ian Bell, who ironically only played in one Twenty20 match. He scored 60 off 46 balls in the convincing win against New Zealand, a contribution which represented 47% of England's total and earned him 19 points.

The domestic MVP season begins on April 15 when the first round of LV= County Championship fixtures commence, while the 2009/10 England MVP kicks off with the first Test match on May 6, when England take on the West Indies at Lord's.

For the first time ever, clubs and schools around the country will gain exclusive access to the MVP formula, to run their own MVP competition, thanks to the launch of a brand new website. Visit http://www.mycricketmvp.com for more information.

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