Abbott goes top of County Championship PCA MVP Rankings Hampshire’s former South Africa fast bowler Kyle Abbott has gone top of this season’s Professional Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player Rankings for the Specsavers County Championship. A 20 points haul from the rain-blighted draw with Surrey at the Ageas Bowl was enough for Abbott to displace Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens at the top of the championship PCA MVP. Abbott earned 10 points for his first innings bowling against Surrey and he added five more for making a valuable 37 in his only innings. Those points took Abbott to 286 in championship cricket this season giving him a two points lead over Essex fast bowler Jamie Porter, who has climbed to second place with three rounds of matches remaining. Porter, who was voted the PCA Player of the Month for August last week, took 27 rankings points from Essex’s draw with Lancashire at Old Trafford. Porter took five for 73 in Lancashire’s first innings – his third successive five wicket haul – which took his wicket tally to 17 in three innings. Porter’s latest five wicket haul gave him 26 rankings points and took him to 284 in the County Championship this season. He has now amassed 122 rankings points in Essex’s last three championship matches. The PCA MVP Rankings system identifies the match-winners and key influencers of matches throughout the domestic season. The formula takes into account conditions, quality of opposition, captaincy and strike-rates as well as runs scored and wickets taken. Stevens has dropped to third on 281 points but he remains the leading points-earner in County Championship cricket since the PCA MVP Rankings were introduced in 2007. Stevens now has 2,719 rankings points in championship cricket, with Middlesex seamer Tim Murtagh second in the all-time list on 2,682 points. In the overall PCA MVP Rankings, which cover all formats, Nottinghamshire all-rounder Samit Patel is still leading the race for the £ 10,000 prize. Patel has 512 points, 76 ahead of Glamorgan all-rounder Colin Ingram and 91 clear of third-placed Somerset paceman Craig Overton. Stevens is sixth with 403 points and Abbott seventh on 399 points. Patel is also top of the all-time PCA MVP Rankings with 5,264 points in all competitions since 2007 with Stevens second in the table on 5,015 career points. The full PCA MVP Rankings can be viewed here.
