Trent Bridge duo Joe Clarke and Kathryn Bryce have won the PCA Player of the Month awards for August.
The pair were shortlisted for the awards using the PCA’s Most Valuable Player Rankings, powered by OFX. The unique algorithm selected the top four men’s and women’s players before they faced a public vote, with the winners decided by a 50:50 split in the two.
With a staggering 66 per cent of the public vote, Clarke took the accolade ahead of Paul Walter in second place, The Hundred Men’s Player of the Year Tim Seifert finished third with Worcestershire’s Jake Libby in fourth.
In the women’s game, The Blaze’s Bryce picked up her first PCA Player of the Month award since June 2024 with 63 per cent of the public vote. This summer’s England ODI captain Charlie Dean came second, with Australian duo of Annabel Sutherland and Phoebe Litchfield in third and fourth respectively.
Clarke wins Men’s Player of the Month
Clarke scored 479 runs in August at an average of 53.2 across The Hundred and Rothesay County Championship. Opening the batting for Birmingham Phoenix the 30-year-old scored 196 runs with two half-centuries. This included a brilliant 73 off 42 balls against London Spirit.
For Nottinghamshire, Clarke continued his sublime red-ball form scoring 283 runs including 95 against Surrey and a superb 150 against Warwickshire, taking him past 1,000 First-Class runs this year and earning him a Match MVP award with 40.47 points.
On winning Player of the Month, Clarke said: “It’s a huge honour to be in amongst four extremely talented players and to get votes off the cricket public and the fans is very pleasing.
“I managed to latch on to some good form this month, I found a nice process with Peter Moores at Nottinghamshire getting back in to red-ball cricket after The Hundred which has helped.
“I got 95 against Surrey in the second innings so when you’re contributing to wins – that means more. Hopefully I can score more runs in the last few games and we can be at the top of the league at the end of the year.
“Maybe some of my teammates and people at Nottinghamshire got behind me, so to be voted by your peers, players that you’ve played against and fans is great.”
Brilliant Bryce secures POTM award
Bryce highlighted her match-winning capabilities with bat and ball throughout August. The Blaze and Manchester Super Giants all-rounder produced a fabulous innings against Durham scoring 136 in a 233-run partnership with PCA Vice Chair Georgia Elwiss in the Metro Bank One Day Cup. Alongside figures of 1-28 she earned the Match MVP award and a further 32.73 points.
The 28-year-old followed that up with 45 and 1-32 in another Blaze victory, finishing the month with 204 runs and six wickets across her six matches in the 50-over competition and The Hundred.
On winning the award, Bryce said: “It was a fantastic day against Durham, I had a sore body the next day but it was a great partnership with Georgia (Elwiss) and it was really nice for that to come together and ease back into 50-over cricket.
“We work a lot together in the nets so it was great to bat for a long period with Georgia, she came in and we were ticking along really nicely and reminding ourselves how long you have in 50-over cricket.
“It was a hectic month with The Hundred as well and you have to hit the ground running quickly but we’ve had a successful year with The Blaze so it was nice to get back with the squad.
“It’s nice to hear the fans are voting for me, we have great supporters at The Blaze and the squad are great at supporting each other too.
“We’re in a really strong position and we have two games to come, so hopefully we can secure that top spot and get into the final, we’ve played some really good cricket this season.”
Find out more about the PCA MVP Rankings and view the men’s and women’s tables.
Save time and money with OFX, the PCA’s Official FX partner, offering members bank-beating rates and an easier way to send money home.
