Root caps outstanding summer with Test award

Joe Root has rounded off his incredible summer from an individual perspective by being named the LV= Insurance Test Player of the Summer, and he also finishes this year’s home international schedule atop the cross-format PCA Overall Most Valuable Player Rankings.

Root has been simply sublime with the bat throughout LV= Insurance Test series against New Zealand and India, finishing top of the Test Most Valuable Player (MVP) Rankings with 152 MVP points – just two clear of second-placed Ollie Robinson who has stood out with the ball.

The 30-year-old’s incredible numbers speak for themselves: throughout those two series Root scored 661 runs at an average of 66.1, racking up three hundreds and an additional half century with a high score of 180 not out, made during the second Test Match against India at Lord’s.

The volume of the England captain’s runs this summer has been matched by the context in which he scored them. His 109 during the second innings of the first Test against India at Trent Bridge accounted for over 33% of his side’s total, with no other batter passing 32, effectively saving the game for his side and contributing to his huge MVP score.

Likewise, his 180 not out accounted for 46% of his side’s 391 all out during the second Test, whilst his chanceless 121 in the third Test was scored at a strike rate of 73 and might just have been the best innings of them all.

Root’s inspired form has enabled him to score a huge 124 MVP points for batting alone in Tests this summer – 32 points clear of Rory Burns and 95 clear of Dom Sibley which illustrates the Yorkshireman’s importance to his side.

A regular feature at first slip, Root also took eight catches across the two Test series which earned him 16 MVP points for fielding, a total that can only be bettered by Jos Buttler (18) among England players this Test summer.

The LV= Insurance Test Player of the Summer has been selected by the PCA MVP Rankings, the England captain topping the table which has been produced by a new statistical algorithm for 2021.

Instead of relying on traditional batting and bowling averages, the formula rewards outstanding individual contributions in First-Class cricket, including making top-order runs, posting big individual totals in low-scoring games and scoring a high percentage of your team’s runs.

Root joins Scott Borthwick (Royal London Cup Player of the Year), Samit Patel (Vitality Blast Player of the Year) and Liam Livingstone (Vitality Men’s IT20 Player of the Summer) in having won a men’s cinch PCA award this year.

The conclusion of the international schedule also saw Root named the cross-format Overall MVP for this summer.

The Overall MVP aggregates points scored across all formats to identify England’s most effective multi-format players, with Root totalling 190 points during his nine appearances across Test and ODI cricket this summer.

On top of his inspired Test form, Root made unbeaten scores of 79 and 68 during England’s ODI series against Sri Lanka in late June and early July, helping to boost his MVP score to the 190-point mark.

He finishes 39 points clear of Robinson in the Overall standings, and it is a second Overall MVP award in succession for Root who also topped the Rankings with 163 points following tours of Sri Lanka and India during the winter which saw him make three 150+ scores in consecutive Test Matches.

LV= Insurance Test Player of the Summer and England Overall MVP, Joe Root, said: “I feel like I’ve played pretty well throughout the whole year, but this summer in particular. My batting has been nice and consistent, and I’ve made some big contributions. I’m really pleased that I’ve been able to make some significant scores that have gotten us into good positions in numerous games.

“It was amazing to have fans back in and share some brilliant Test cricket with them as well. Even in the games that we lost this summer, we went toe-to-toe with the two best Test teams over the last two years for the majority of the games.

“We had periods where we fell away quite quickly and that’s disappointing, but we put in some really good performances throughout the whole summer and that win at Headingley was exceptional – it was some of the best cricket we’ve played as a side in a long time.

“Preparing for what’s coming next has to be the main focus now, and making sure that we’re ready for the challenge mentally, so that when it comes around we can really try to deliver on the biggest stage.”

Root was confirmed as the LV= Insurance Test Player of the Summer after the conclusion of his side’s Test series against India, with awards taking place virtually in 2021 in the absence of an in-person event. England awards are being announced after the final ball of the international schedule in each format across both men’s and women’s cricket.

Tuesday 28 September will see the finale of the cinch PCA Awards with the four headline awards being announced live on Sky Sports during lunch on the opening day of the Bob Willis Trophy final.

For the first time at the cinch PCA Awards, there will be a Women’s Young Player of the Year. Following the introduction of 41 domestic professional female players and the creation of the women’s elite domestic structure, players will have the opportunity to vote for a breakthrough star of 2021.

With cinch sponsoring the four player-selected awards, the Men’s, Women’s, Men’s Young and Women’s Young Player of the Year awards will all be revealed in a blockbuster presentation of the best performers in English cricket in 2021.

Find out more about the PCA MVP Rankings and view the international men’s and women’s tables.