HALES REMINDS SELECTORS Alex Hales smashed through the 500-run mark in just his third game of the season and reminded the England selectors that he’s not just a white ball specialist. He followed his career best 236 of last week against Yorkshire at Trent Bridge with scores of 141 and 94 against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl this week to move to second in the MVP Rankings. Hales, who was named on Tuesday in England’s ODI squad to play Ireland at Malahide on May 8th, has 176 more runs than James Hildreth, the second-best run-getter in this year’s LV County Championship (LV=CC). He’s scored his runs at the impressive rate of 69 runs per 100 balls and has earned bonus points for scoring 30% of the team’s total on three occasions. His 510 runs represent 23.74% of Nottinghamshire’s season runs and sees him close to within 10 points of leader Ajmal Shahzad. Shahzad enjoyed another good week despite his Sussex side losing at Durham. The former Yorkshire, Lancashire and Notts’ paceman took 4-72 and 4-86 to take his wicket tally for the season to 20. He’s also made 160 valuable runs with four scores of 28 or better. He took 3-54 and 3-63 at the Ageas Bowl in the opening round of matches and followed that with a career-best 5-46 at Hove against Worcestershire. He sits top of the table with 113 points. Tim Bresnan is third having scored 119 runs and taken 14 wickets. Bresnan was recalled by England this week for the upcoming ODI with Ireland and could even force his way back into the reckoning for the Ashes if he’s able to maintain his strong early-season form. He hit 83 with the bat at New Road in round one and took 5-85 and 2-39 in Yorkshire’s most recent match at Headingley against Warwickshire. Adam Voges is the highest ranked player to have only played two games. The Middlesex captain will leave the county in the near future to join up with the Australian Test squad but he’s already left his mark on this year’s LV=CC with a blistering 132 to help his side chase down 405 for victory against Somerset. Voges had fallen two runs short of a century in the first innings of a typically high-scoring match at Taunton but made amends in the run chase registering the 25th hundred of his first-class career. His 331 runs and four wickets have earned him 80 MVP Ranking points. Chris Rushworth completes the top five after bowling Durham to victory against Sussex. Rushworth took 3-78 and 5-81 a fortnight after taking 6-92 against Somerset to make it two wins out of two for Paul Collingwood’s men. Rushworth produced last year’s biggest points haul for a single match when he returned figures of 9-52 and 6-43 to rout Northants. He finished that LV=CC campaign in 10th with 64 wickets having finished 16th with 54 wickets in Durham’s title-winning season of 2013. OVERALL MVP PLAYER COUNTY BAT BOWL FIELD CAPT WINS PLAYED POINTS AV PTS Shahzad Sussex 21.65 88.26 1 0 2 3 113 37.64 Hales Notts 102.69 0 0 0 0 3 103 34.23 Bresnan Yorks 18.44 64.81 1 0 1 3 85 28.42 Voges Middx 60.62 14.53 3 1 1 2 80 40.08 Rushworth Durham 2.11 65.97 0 0 2 2 70 35.04 For more information on the MVP ranking system please visit www.thepca.co.uk. For more info on this release contact Dave Fulton on 07742106991, dfulton@thepca.co.uk or Jason Ratcliffe at the PCA on 07768 558 050 or jratcliffe@thepca.co.uk The Formula The MVP is a cumulative points system that ewards players for every run scored, wicket taken and catch held – and, how well they do it. A player achieves bonus points based in certain criteria. An overview of the formula is set out below: Batting + Bowling + Fielding + Captaincy + Winning = Total MVP points Batting: The basis of the batting points take into account runs scored, the rate scored at, and the percentage of the team’s total. Batting bonus points are achieved for reaching a century, achieving a benchmark run-rate (varies per tournament, i.e. 1.5 runs per ball in the Twenty20), and scoring over 30% of a team’s runs Bowling: The basis for the bowling points take into account the number of wickets and economy rates. Bowlers achieve higher points for getting out higher order batsmen Bowling bonus points are achieved for achieving a benchmark economy rate (varies per tournament, i.e. fewer than 6 runs per over in Twenty20), taking 5 or more wickets in an innings, and bowling maidens. Fielding: Points are accumulated for catches, run outs – direct hits, run outs – assists, stumpings, with bonuses for 5 fielding dismissals in an innings. Captaincy: A captain of a winning side will receive one bonus point Winning teams: All members of a winning team receive one bonus point {{ak_sharing}}
