Patel reaches 5,000 points landmark in PCA MVP Rankings Nottinghamshire all-rounder Samit Patel has become the first player to reach the 5,000 career points landmark in the Professional Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player Rankings. Patel heads the all-time points table since the PCA MVP system was introduced in 2007 and went past 5,000 points during this week’s innings victory over Leicestershire at Trent Bridge in the Specsavers County Championship. Patel followed up his career-best 257 in the draw against Gloucestershire with 247 which made up 45 per cent of Nottinghamshire’s runs in their only innings against Leicestershire. That innings earned Patel 38 batting points towards a match haul of 39 rankings points. Patel now has 5,023 points across all formats in the all-time PCA MVP with Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens in second place on 4,926. But Stevens leads the all-time County Championship rankings with 2,665 points with Patel in fourth with 2,497. Stevens has also regained the lead of this season’s overall PCA MVP from Surrey’s former Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara who sat out the latest round of championship matches. Stevens now has 314 points, 10 more than Sangakkara, with Yorkshire captain Gary Ballance third on 273, Hampshire paceman Kyle Abbott fourth on 272 and Patel fifth on 270 points. 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. In the County Championship PCA MVP, Abbott is top with 232 points, 12 of them earned for his career-best 97 not out in the first innings of Hampshire’s innings defeat by Lancashire at Old Trafford. Stevens is five points behind Abbott with Sangakkara third on 191 and Worcestershire captain Joe Leach up to fourth on 180. Leach made a first innings half century and took seven wickets in the match in Worcestershire’s stunning victory over Kent at New Road and finished with a healthy match haul of 37 rankings points. Leach’s team-mate Joe Clarke earned 44 PCA MVP points for scoring a century in each innings against Kent. Clarke’s 142 made up 42 per cent of Worcestershire’s first innings runs and secured him 25 rankings point and he followed up with 110 from 122 balls in the second innings to add a further 18 points. Joe Clarke celebrates his ton. The highest innings points haul of the season was secured by Lancashire’s former South Africa batsman Dane Vilas who earned 45.56 points for his career-best 244 against Hampshire. That performance took Vilas to 21st place in the list of best single innings performances in the history of the PCA MVP. It was also the second-best single innings haul by a Lancashire player following Ashwell Prince’s 49 points for his 257 against Northamptonshire three years ago. To view the full MVP table click here.
