Darren Stevens Crowned Twenty20 MVP For 2009

DARRENStevens (pictured), one of the most successful players in the history of Twenty20 – having won the Cup with both Kent and Leicestershire, is crowned the 2009 T20 MVP after another scintillating performance with the bat on Finals Day. Stevens, who hit the winning runs for the Spitfires two years ago, smashed 77 from 51 balls and bowled three overs for 21 runs in the semi-final defeat against the Somerset Sabres. The batting all-rounder started his campaign with a blistering 59 from 26 balls against Middlesex at Lord’s before adding three further fifties to take his competition tally to 356 runs. He also added five wickets with a respectable economy rate of 6.00 runs per over.

Commenting on the award, Stevens said: "I’m delighted to be crowed the most valuable player in Twenty20 cricket for 2009. I’ve scored lots of runs this year in the T20 and it was good to help the team to Finals Day. I was just gutted that we couldn’t go on and win it."

James Tredwell is a new entry into the overall top ten at number seven after his ten-wicket match haul led Kent to victory over Northants and took him personally to the top of the LV=CC MVP. Tredwell’s bowling efforts – his third ‘five for’ in three innings has seen him net 57 Championship wickets for the season to date, including a career best 8-66 against Glamorgan back in May. The off-spinner also took 6-27 against Middlesex at Southgate in the Friends Provident Trophy, taking his haul across all cricket to 80 wickets, which makes him the country’s leading wicket-taker. He is also in good form with the bat, having scored 416 runs including four Championship fifties.

Click on the links below to find out how your favourite Kent players are performing this year:
http://www.thepca.co.uk/county-team-rankings-09.html?team=18 (Kent specific)
http://www.thepca.co.uk/mvp-09.html (Main Site)

Picture: Sarah Ansell