Stevens top of PCA MVP rankings
Thursday 18th May 2017
Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens is top of the overall Professional Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player rankings as county cricket prepares to switch from white to red ball cricket.
Stevens, 41, pummelled a List A-best 147 from just 67 balls against Glamorgan at Swansea in the Royal London One Day Cup on Sunday but it was not enough for Kent to beat a Colin Ingram-inspired Glamorgan.
Stevens scored 43 per cent of Kent’s runs at Swansea and earned 40 rankings points, his season’s best.
The PCA MVP Rankings system identifies the match-winners and key influencers of matches throughout the domestic season.
The formula takes into account conditions, quality of opposition, captaincy and strike-rates as well as runs scored and wickets taken.
Stevens finished 19th in the Royal London One-Day rankings with 87 points but he has 213 points overall having made a flying start to the season in the Specsavers County Championship.
Stevens heads the overall PCA MVP table, three points ahead of Yorkshire captain Gary Ballance and 26 clear of third-placed Colin Ingram of Glamorgan.
Opening batsman Daniel Bell-Drummond is Kent’s next highest-placed player in the overall rankings in 27th position on 116 points but he finished ninth in the table for the One-Day Cup at the end of the group stage.
Bell-Drummond will now be invited to play for the South in next season’s North-South Series having finished as the third-highest England qualified player from the One-Day Cup South group in the rankings.
Teammates Sam Northeast and Matt Coles are currently ranked 65 and 66 respectively.