The PCA Most Valuable Player Rankings - won last year by Nottinghamshire's Samit Patel - returns for the 2018 domestic season with the Specsavers County Championship getting underway today (Friday).

The all-rounder won the crown last summer after a hugely consistent summer across all three formats.

Patel claimed the £10,000 prize after his remarkable year helped Notts clinch promotion to the Specsavers County Championship Division One and claim the white-ball double, winning the Royal London One-Day Cup and the NatWest T20 Blast.

The 33-year-old was also awarded the NatWest PCA Players’ Player of the Year to end a memorable campaign on a Club and personal level.

The PCA MVP Rankings is entering its 12th season after being introduced in 2007. The new campaign will see a fresh approach to the metric with the formula explained in one easily understandable video and the implementation of a Man of the Match for each county and England fixture this summer.

The formula was designed by the players to identify the match-winners and key influencers of matches throughout the domestic and international season.

An innovation which provides a more rigorous analysis of player performances than traditional batting and bowling averages, the MVP 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.

Runs gain more points if they are scored quickly or in low-scoring contests. Top order wickets are judged more valuable than those that fall later. Catches, run-outs and stumpings are also accounted for as well as bonus points for captains and players who are on the victorious side.

The player who tops the overall PCA County MVP Rankings at the end of the season receives a £10,000 reward. The individuals who finish top of the individual domestic competitions will be awarded the competition’s Player of the Year.

2017 saw Essex seam bowler Jamie Porter win the Specsavers County Championship Player of the Year due to his consistent performances in helping his county win the four-day competition.

Having played every single game for Nottinghamshire in 2017, Patel came second in both limited-overs competitions with Glamorgan’s Colin Ingram finishing top of the pile in the Royal London One-Day Cup. Derbyshire’s Wayne Madsen pipped Patel to the NatWest T20 Blast accolade despite his Man of the Match performance in the final.

The MVP Rankings are not confined to domestic cricket; every England men’s international match is also ranked with Jonny Bairstow recently being confirmed as the most consistent player across the entire tour of Australasia.

Despite this, Stuart Broad was top of the Test Match rankings, Chris Woakes was the ODI winner with Dawid Malan finishing a positive winter campaign with the IT20 honour.

New for 2018, the MVP Rankings will be awarding a Man of the Match for every single county and England fixture as the PCA aims to champion match-winners across England and Wales. The PCA Player of the Month will return with the four best county players of the month according to the MVP shortlisted before going to a public vote.

The first round of four-day fixtures starts on Friday with 12 teams kicking off their campaign with holders Essex travelling to Headingley to face Yorkshire while newly-promoted Worcestershire and Notts travel to Hampshire and Lancashire respectively.

In Division Two, Kent host Gloucestershire, Sussex travel to Edgbaston to take on Warwickshire and 2016 County Champions Middlesex open up their summer at Lord’s against Northamptonshire.

To view more information about the MVP Rankings and view last year’s county rankings as well as England’s 2017/18 winter standings visit the MVP page.

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