REJUVENATED HARRIS FLATTENS DURHAM TO GO TOP OF MVP James Harris moved to the top of the MVP Rankings after a sensational career-best 9-34 against Durham at Lord’s. Harris, who had taken 5-83 and 3-64 against Somerset in his previous outing at Taunton, as well as 4-69 in Durham’s first innings, removed openers Keaton Jennings and Mark Stoneman on the third evening – as Durham set about chasing 259 for victory. No one could have anticipated what was to happen on the final morning as Durham resumed their run chase at 24-2 with all results still possible. Harris, operating from the Nursery Ground End and into a gale-force wind, blew Durham away inside 90 minutes. Harris’ figures were the second best for Middlesex since the war and the best at Lord’s since Gubby Allen took a 10-fer in 1929. He has now taken 26 wickets from three matches and is showing why he was courted by 11 counties at the end of the 2012 season. He finished 247th in the LV=CC MVP in 2012, 144th in 2013 after his move to Middlesex – and 247th last summer when he was loaned back to Glamorgan after taking just 12 wickets in seven matches. His best finish to a LV=CC MVP campaign was in 2010 when he came 15th after scoring 257 runs and taking 63 wickets. He’s on course for much better than that in 2015. Harris wasn’t the only bowler to impress at Lord’s. Chris Rushworth took 5-38 to bowl Middlesex out for 89 in the third innings of the game, his sixth five-fer in five games. Rushworth famously took his own 9-fer in Durham’s penultimate match of last year (9-52 versus Northants), which he followed with 6-43 in Northants’ second innings. He finished the season with 6-100 against Warwickshire. He began this season with 6-92 in Somerset’s second innings at Taunton and then 5-81 in Sussex’s second innings at Durham ICG last week. Rushworth chipped in with 40 as nightwatchman at Lord’s in Durham’s first innings, six runs short of his career best. He has scored 67 runs and taken 21 wickets and is 12 points behind Harris in second. Last week’s one and two, Ajmal Shahzad and Alex Hales, were without games this week and have moved down to three and four and Middlesex captain Adam Voges drops a place to fifth after a quiet game by his high standards at Lord’s. The new entry into the top ten is Charlie Morris (10th), who returned career-best match figures of 9-109 to bowl Worcestershire to their first win of the season over Somerset at New Road. The 22-year-old fast bowler took 5-71 – the second five-wicket haul of his career – and 4-38 to skittle Somerset for just 90 in their second innings. Morris took 52 wickets last year to help Worcestershire gain promotion – and with 14 already in this campaign looks like one to watch. OVERALL MVP PLAYER COUNTY BAT BOWL FIELD CAPT WINS PLAYED POINTS AV PTS Harris Middx 10.56 110.08 2 0 2 3 125 41.55 Rushworth Durham 10.12 100.14 1 0 2 3 113 37.75 Shahzad Sussex 21.65 88.26 1 0 2 3 113 37.75 Hales Notts 102.69 0 0 0 0 3 103 34.23 Voges Middx 68.79 22.13 5 2 2 3 100 33.31 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 rewards 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}}
