Root Retains Metro Bank Award

Joe Root has been named the Metro Bank ODI Men’s Player of the Summer for a second year in a row after topping the PCA’s Most Valuable Player Rankings, powered by OFX, with 72.07 points.

England’s leading ODI run-scorer added 326 to his total this summer at an average of 54.33, including three unbeaten half-centuries against India.

The accolade was awarded to Root after the final match of the Metro Bank ODI series against Sri Lanka at the Kia Oval ended the summer’s international cricket. A game which saw Harry Brook’s side win by 223 runs as Tom Banton scored a maiden international century.

England secured two ODI series victories against Sri Lanka and India, winning four of their six matches in the format.

Root picked up two Match MVP awards in the first two ODIs of the summer against India. In the first game he scored an unbeaten run-a-ball 76 with six fours and a six, securing 13.76 MVP points.

In the second ODI, the 35-year-old earned 26.80 MVP points for a match-winning knock of 99 not out with 13 fours as England won by four wickets, chasing 234 for victory.

Root scored his third half century of the series in the third ODI with an unbeaten 74 off 48 balls having amassed 249 runs for the three matches without being dismissed, a world record in a single ODI series, surpassing Jos Buttler’s 248 against the Netherlands in 2022.

On winning the award, Root said: “It’s been a good summer and we’re doing incredibly well with the World Cup round the corner.

“I went a long time without playing ODI cricket so it has been really good to be back and I love where we’re heading as a team, we’re trending in a really good way and hopefully we can keep putting in match winning performances.

“Guys have really stood up this series and it shows the depth in our squad.”

Surrey all-rounder Will Jacks finished second in the MVP Rankings with a total of 52.4 points, particularly impressing in the series against Sri Lanka where he was vice captain.

The 27-year-old scored 183 runs at an average of 45.75 and took seven wickets at 23.57 a-piece.

Jacks won a Match MVP award against Sri Lanka in the first ODI. He earned 24.99 points for his unbeaten innings of 46 off 47 balls and then helped to bowl the opposition out with figures of seven overs 5-22, claiming his maiden ODI five-wicket haul as England won by 86 runs.

Opener Ben Duckett finished third in the MVP table with 52.13 points having scored 283 runs at an average of 47.16 with a brilliant strike-rate of 101.85.

The 31-year-old helped England win the final game of the series against India by 20 runs thanks to a dominating innings of 141 from 135 balls with 18 fours and a six as England posted 387-3 from their 50 overs.

Root joins fellow 2026 international MVP award winners Brook and Ollie Robinson who picked up the Vitality IT20 Men’s Player of the Summer and Rothesay Men’s Test Player of the Summer accolades respectively.

White-ball captain Brook collects the Overall Men’s International title securing 366 MVP points for 976 runs at an average of 57.41 across his 20 England games this summer.

The Metro Bank ODI Men’s Player of the Summer was selected by the PCA Most Valuable Player Rankings, powered by OFX, the PCA’s Official FX Partner. The formula takes into account expected performance on every ball according to CricViz’s extensive database. The algorithm also considers the historic performances of the venue each fixture is being played at, therefore giving a more accurate reflection of the top performers in the game than traditional batting and bowling averages do.

England’s next white-ball challenge sees them travel to Pakistan for an ODI tri-series against the hosts and Sri Lanka beginning on 18 October before heading to Australia for three ODIs and five IT20s, with the 50-over series starting 13 November.

View the final ODI and Overall Men’s International MVP tables here.

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