PCA Player of the Month shortlist announced Nottinghamshire pair Samit Patel and Steven Mullaney, Essex off-spinner Simon Harmer and Somerset all-rounder Lewis Gregory have been shortlisted for the Professional Cricketers’ Association Player of the Month Award for June. The quartet earned most points in the PCA Most Valuable Player Rankings during the month and will now go into a public poll to decide the June winner. Supporters are encouraged to vote below to decide who will follow Gloucestershire seamer Liam Norwell (April) and Surrey’s former Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara (May) as the third winner of the new monthly awards. Patel made back-to-back double centuries in June with a career-best 257 not out in the drawn Specsavers County Championship match against Gloucestershire at Bristol followed by 247 in the win over Leicestershire at Trent Bridge. Patel earned 83 of his 158 rankings points in June in those two matches and became the first player to top 5,000 career points since the PCA MVP system was introduced in 2007. 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. The formula also takes into account conditions, quality of opposition, captaincy and strike-rates as well as runs scored and wickets taken with the player who tops the overall PCA MVP Rankings at the end of the season, receiving a £ 10,000 prize and a trophy. Patel also earned 25 points for his 122 in the Royal London One-Day Cup semi-final victory over Essex at Chelmsford Mullaney’s productive month included 111 from just 75 balls in the RLODC semi-final against Essex and a championship-best 168 in this week’s draw against Kent at Trent Bridge. Mullaney contributed 45 per cent of Nottinghamshire’s first innings runs against Kent and earned 28 rankings points and 22 points for his century against Essex. Patel and Mullaney, who earned 122 PCA MVP points in June, shared a Nottinghamshire List A record fifth wicket partnership of 185 which laid the foundations for a record run chase as they successfully chased down a target of 371. Harmer, capped five times by South Africa in Tests, ended the month with 28 wickets in successive championship wins over Warwickshire and Middlesex at Chelmsford. Harmer took a career-best eight for 36 against Warwickshire and improved on that seven days later when he took nine for 95 against the defending champions. Harmer’s figures against Middlesex were the best for Essex since Mark Ilott took nine for 19 against Northamptonshire at Luton in 1995. Harmer’s match return of 14 for 128 against Warwickshire were also Essex’s best since Ilott took 14 for 105 at Luton. There were 63 PCA MVP points for Harmer against Warwickshire and 62 more against Middlesex which made up the majority of his June aggregate of 146. Gregory earned 94 points during the month, 27 of them for making 137, his maiden first-class century, in the drawn championship match against Middlesex at Lord’s He followed up with useful runs in each innings of the narrow defeat by Yorkshire at Taunton then took four wickets and netted 13 more rankings points in the Royal London One Day Cup quarter-final defeat by Nottinghamshire. Gregory ended June with a 22 points match haul from the tense championship draw against Hampshire which included three wickets in the first innings. The full PCA MVP Rankings can be viewed here, to vote for your choice, simply click on the player below. {{MVPPOTMJUNE}}
