Left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone is England Women’s Overall Most Valuable Player for summer 2019 after a season of mixed fortunes saw the side defeat West Indies before losing the Ashes to Australia.
At just 20 years old, Ecclestone impressively managed to accrue 89.26 MVP points over the course of the summer, over 12 clear of her nearest challenger Natalie Sciver in second.
The Lancashire star has excelled across both of the major formats, finishing fourth and second respectively in the ODI and IT20 Rankings. She also managed three wickets in the only Test against Australia, and might have claimed more had the match not been hampered by inclement weather.
Ecclestone claimed 69.41 MVP bowling points over the entire summer – by far the most of any player. She has proved her consistency by claiming more wickets than any other England player during each of the series against West Indies and Australia.
However, Ecclestone has been denied an impressive Overall and IT20 MVP double by teammate Katherine Brunt. The seam bowler has finished just over one MVP point clear at the summit of the format-specific Ranking.
Brunt has averaged the most MVP points-per-game (8.47) of any player to have appeared more than once in the shortest format for England Women this summer. Notably, she also claimed the MVP award after her side’s solitary victory in the Women’s Ashes at Bristol on 31 July.
In that game, the 34-year-old made a crucial 25 not out from just 18 balls at the back of England’s innings, before firing with the ball to claim 3-21 from her set and help restrict Australia to 122-8.
The performance completed an impressive summer for Brunt in the shortest format, and also helped her to finish third in the Overall MVP, 13 points below Ecclestone at the top.
Opening batter Tammy Beaumont already claimed the ODI MVP after England’s last 50-over game of the summer on 4 July.
Having won the Overall award last year, Beaumont began summer 2019 in a similar vein, making scores of 32, 61 and 46 in the three ODIs against the West Indies.
Although she wasn’t quite so prolific against Australia, one innings stood out as the Kent player made 114 of her side’s 217 at almost a run per ball. Beaumont’s importance to her side that day was highlighted by the fact that no other player passed 25 in the same innings. Unsurprisingly, the 28-year-old took the PCA MVP award with 21.65 points.
That knock played a huge part in Beaumont winning the ODI MVP, with 45.7% of her total points coming as a result of it. She finishes just two clear of teammate Anya Shrubsole in second.
The international MVP was designed by the PCA in conjunction with the players to recognise the match-winners and key influencers in any given game. The algorithm recognises match-defining contributions, such as scoring quick runs, taking top order wickets and taking catches, thus giving a more accurate reflection of the top performers than traditional averages do.
The Ranking is reset before the start of every international summer and winter, giving six MVPs per year for England Women. Although the side did play a solitary Test against Australia, no award is given for the longest format. However, points from that game will still count towards the Overall MVP.
With no remaining fixtures in 2019, England Women will look to put the disappointment of the Ashes behind them as the MVP is reset in time for the ICC World Twenty20 in Australia early next year.
View the England Women MVP Rankings here.
Keep up-to-date with all the latest MVP news by following the @pcaMVP on Twitter.
