Marcus Trescothick Extends MVP Lead
Marcus Trescothick has stretched his lead at the top of the MVP to a massive 83 points this week after scoring 118 - his seventh championship (LV=CC) century of the season - and 73 against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl. The Somerset opener has already overtaken Martin van Jaarsveld's 2008 winning total of 553 MVP points, and eclipsed the South African's 2008 run tally of 2197 across all forms. Trescothick has moved to 563 points having scored 2582 runs, 1594 having come in four-day cricket. His championship century count could have easily been better when you consider he's had four other scores of 95+ and four other fifties. In 21 innings he has only failed to reach double figures on one occasion, when he made a duck against Yorkshire back in June.
Ian Blackwell was not in championship action this week and was bundled out for a duck at Hove in the Natwest Pro40 but he did pick up a couple of wickets to keep some distance between himself and Craig Kieswetter in third. Blackwell has scored 1135 runs and taken 55 wickets across all forms, 707 and 30 of which have come in the LV=CC, where he is also ranked second after being leapfrogged by Trescothick.
Kieswetter has got his second wind in this MVP race for having scored his first LV=CC hundred since April last week he's backed that up with 94 and 70 to stave off defeat against Hampshire this. The Somerset keeper is now just two runs shy of his 1000 for the season in the LV=CC, while across all cricket he has racked up 1735.
Steven Davies, holder of the Pro40 MVP title, looks like he's serious about hanging on to his crown having pumped out consecutive hundreds in the competition to take him to fourth spot overall and first in the Pro40 MVP. Davies, soon to be a Surrey Brown Cap of course, smacked 106 off 78 balls against Notts then went even quicker against Hants posting exactly 100 off just 67 balls. Davies has scored 1622 runs, taken 41 catches and completed 11 catches across all forms.
Sean Ervine lies fifth after a string of consistent performances across all forms. He is ranked no lower than 29th in any of the four individual competitions, having scored 1403 runs and taken 34 wickets.
Look at Mike Yardy's numbers and you could be forgiven for thinking he has had a difficult August: he hasn't managed to get to 30 with the bat and has only picked up two wickets. That would be to underestimate his impact as captain, however, as Sussex have swept all before them in one-day cricket, including the T20 trophy. Yardy has scored 1338 runs and taken 25 wickets across all forms, while in August he has led Sussex to three Pro40 wins, two T20 wins and a LV=CC victory over Worcestershire, which sees him sixth overall.
Michael Carberry slips to seventh but failed to add to either his points or his run tally after sustaining a broken finger last week, which is likely to keep him out of action for a further fortnight. Carberry remains Trescothick's closest challenger in the overall runs stakes with 1989.
The country's leading wicket taker is off-spinner James Tredwell, who helped Kent to their seventh championship victory of the season this week against Surrey with a further three scalps. Tredwell has taken 85 across all forms, 60 of which have come in the LV=CC where he is ranked third. He has also weighed in with 400 LV=CC runs.
Ed Joyce slips a couple of spots to ninth, while Andrew Hall re-enters the top ten after scoring 104 in the tied Pro40 match against Warwickshire.
Leading Run-scorers
1. Marcus Trescothick 2582
2. Michael Carberry 1989
3. Mark Ramprakash 1972
4. Jonathan Trott 1961 (160 for England)
5. Ed Joyce 1839
6. Jacques Rudolph 1775
7. Craig Kieswetter 1735
8. Martin van Jaarsveld 1726
9. Michael Lumb 1674
10. Jimmy Adams 1660
Leading Wicket-takers
1. James Tredwell 85
2. Danish Kaneria 82
3. Steve Kirby 80
4. Alfonso Thomas, Jon Lewis 73
6. Graham Onions 68 (20 for England)
7. Imran Tahir 64
8. Saj Mahmood 61
9. Charl Willoughby 59
10. Gary Keedy 58
Rankings Bulletins
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