STEVENS, ROY AND WILLEY READY FOR BLAST OFF The Natwest T20 Blast kicks off this week and we’ve picked out three key performers likely to light up the competition once again. Darren Stevens, Jason Roy and David Willey all have great T20 pedigree having figured prominently in the T20 MVP Rankings over the last few years. Stevens, who has scored more T20 points (1008) than anyone in the history of the Rankings, was last year’s T20 Most Valuable Player pipping Roy by two points. The Kent all-rounder scored 234 runs at the rate of 159 runs per 100 balls and took 17 wickets with an economy rate of 7.61 runs per over. His most productive match came in Cardiff where he took 3-22 from his four overs before smiting 71 off 39 balls. His best bowling performance came later in the group stages when he returned figures of 4-17 versus Somerset at Canterbury. Stevens has finished in the top ten of the T20 MVP Rankings in four of the last five years and won the T20 title for the first time in 2009. Roy’s swashbuckling style has always been eye-catching but he added consistency in 2014 with nine fifties and 677 runs all at the heady rate of 157 runs per 100 balls. He batted 15 times and only failed to reach double figures once. He was the leading run-scorer in the competition by some distance and his efforts earned him an international call against India at Edgbaston towards the end of the summer. And this week Roy got into T20 mode early helping Surrey chase down a victory target of 218 inside 22 overs in the LV County Championship (LV=CC) against Leicestershire at the Oval. He smacked 67 off 39 balls with six fours and four sixes. Willey won the T20 crown in 2013 on the back of 198 runs and 21 wickets. He produced the best individual performance in the history of our domestic T20 finals day smashing 60 of 27 balls before taking 4-9 with the ball, taking a catch and completing a runout to earn 35.73 points and beat Surrey almost singlehandedly. Last year was injury plagued but he appears back to his best having already scored 327 runs including two centuries and taken 11 wickets in the LV=CC. The T20 MVP has come from overseas on just two occasions. Chaminda Vaas took the title in 2010 with 412 runs and 23 wickets. The following season Andrew McDonald scored 585 runs and took 14 wickets to take the Foxes all the way. In this week’s LV=CC action Kevin Pietersen dominated the headlines on and off the pitch. His whopping 355 not out netted 54.57 points. Meanwhile Olly Robinson and Joe Leach climbed into the top 20 and lead the average-point-per-game table having only played two games each. Robinson, who made an extraordinary hundred on debut for Sussex against Durham at the Riverside before taking 4-71, backed that up this week taking 4-46 and 4-62 against Middlesex at Hove. Leach also took eight wickets – in Worcestershire’s defeat to Warwickshire (6-73 and 2-61) having scored 95 and taken five wickets in the previous round’s victory over Somerset at New Road. Robinson has 141 runs and 12 wickets, Leach 142 runs and 13 wickets. At the top of the overall table there was no personnel change, although Adam Voges and Alex Hales have changed places in fourth and fifth. OVERALL MVP PLAYER COUNTY BAT BOWL FIELD CAPT WINS PLAYED POINTS AV PTS Harris Middx 15.94 123.23 3 0 3 4 145 36.31 Rushworth Durham 10.28 123.24 2 0 3 4 139 34.63 Shahzad Sussex 22.41 97.16 1 0 2 4 123 30.64 Voges Middx 80.53 22.13 7 3 3 4 116 28.91 Hales Notts 106.20 0 0 0 0 4 106 26.55 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 ewards 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}}
