Shortlist announced for PCA Player of the Month Award for August. Sussex batsman Chris Nash, Essex pace bowler Jamie Porter and the Nottinghamshire pair of Samit Patel and Jake Ball have been shortlisted for the Professional Cricketers’ Association Player of the Month Award for August. The quartet earned most points in the PCA Most Valuable Player Rankings across all formats during the month and fans will now have the chance to decide the winner by voting on an online poll. Votes can be cast on the PCA and Sky Sports websites with voting closing at 9am on Monday September 4. The winner will be presented with an inscribed trophy and will be the fifth player to receive a PCA Player of the Month Award trophy after Gloucestershire’s Liam Norwell (April), Surrey’s Kumar Sangakkara (May), Essex’s Simon Harmer (June) and Derbyshire’s Wayne Madsen (July). The PCA MVP Rankings system, which was introduced in 2007, 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. CHRIS NASH Nash topped the points table during August earning 140 PCA MVP points during the month. Nash ended Sussex’s NatWest T20 Blast campaign with five half centuries in six innings in August with two scores of 73, against Kent and in their final match against Essex at Hove. Nash earned 102 of his rankings points in the Blast but he also made a century against Worcestershire in the Specsavers County Championship Division Two and finished the month strongly with scores of 42 and 68 in the one wicket victory over Glamorgan at Colwyn Bay this week. JAMIE PORTER Porter earned 116 PCA MVP points during August with a match haul of 64 points to end the month in Specsavers County Championship win over Somerset at Chelmsford. Porter followed up his five for 45 in the first innings with a career-best seven for 55 in the second and finished with his best match figures of 12 for 95. He earned 28 PCA MVP points for his first innings bowling and 33 for his second innings efforts and ended August in the championship rankings table. SAMIT PATEL Patel finished second in the August points table with 126 but top of the overall PCA MVP with 479 points across all formats this season. In June he became the first player to reach the landmark of 5,000 career points since the PCA MVP Rankings were introduced in 2007 and he was the first to accrue 400 points this summer. Patel made valuable contributions in Nottinghamshire’s progress to NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day. He made 77 from 48 balls to set up a home win over Warwickshire in mid-August and added 45 from 28 balls plus two wickets for 26 in their quarter-final victory over Somerset at Trent Bridge. He ended the month with 64 from 59 balls and three wickets for 17 to help Nottinghamshire stay on course for promotion in the championship with a victory over Northamptonshire at Trent Bridge. JAKE BALL England paceman Ball took five wickets in the match against Northamptonshire which gave him a haul of 25 points towards his August total of 115. He also took five wickets in the championship match against Derbyshire and took 12 wickets in six NatWest T20 Blast matches. Ball took three for 33 against Derbyshire, three for 27 against Warwickshire and two for 21 in the quarter-final against Somerset. {{POTMSEPT}} {{ak_sharing}}
