Ingram makes his mark in PCA MVP Rankings Colin Ingram is again making his mark in white ball cricket in the Professional Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player Rankings. The South Africa all-rounder was the leading performer in last season’s PCA MVP for the NatWest T20 Blast and he has now gone top of this season’s rankings table for the Royal London One-Day Cup. Ingram has been in superb form this week with List A-best performances with bat and ball. He made 142 from 130 balls to help Glamorgan edge out Essex in Cardiff on Sunday and followed up by taking four for 39 in yesterday’s defeat by Middlesex at Radlett. Ingram took 36 PCA MVP points from the Essex match and a further 26 against Middlesex. He now leads the PCA MVP in the 50 overs competition on 98 points, three ahead of Durham’s in-form batsman Keaton Jennings. Ingram’s white ball performances have helped him to climb to fifth place in the overall MVP table with135 points. The PCA MVP Rankings system identifies the match-winners and key influencers of matches throughout the domestic season. The formula gives full credit to those players whose performances improve their team’s chances of winning. Points are accrued for all runs scored and wickets taken, these are then adjusted within the context of the match to take into account strike rates and economy rates. Runs gain more points if they are scored quickly or in low-scoring contests. Top order wickets are judged more valuable than those that fall later. As the highest-ranked England-qualified player in the 50 overs PCA MVP, Jennings is leading the race for selection for next year’s North-South Series with Kent’s Daniel Bell-Drummond, who is in sixth place, the top England-qualified player in the South Group. The top four players from both groups in the MVP at the end of the group stages of the 50-overs competition will earn automatic selection for the 2018 North-South Series. Yorkshire’s Australia batsman Peter Handscomb has jumped into third place after a productive week which saw him make a List A-best 140 against Derbyshire and earn 35 rankings points. Gary Ballance, Handscomb’s county captain, is the new leader of the overall MVP having taken his consistent form in the Specsavers County Championship into the RLODC. Ballance followed up a half century against Derbyshire with a List A-best 152 not out in yesterday’s crushing victory over Northamptonshire at Wantage Road. He contributed 51 per cent of Yorkshire’s runs at Wantage Road and finished with a match haul of 42 rankings points. Ballance now has 193 PCA MVP points across all formats this season, 33 more than Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens. Former England Test captain Alastair Cook has moved into the top 10 after two centuries in three RLODC innings for Essex. Cook made 127 against Gloucestershire last Thursday and 109 in yesterday’s victory over Sussex at Chelmsford. Cook contributed 40 per cent of Essex’s total against Gloucestershire and 37 per cent against Sussex and earned 59 rankings points in the two matches. To see the full MVP table click here.
