All-rounder Liam Patterson-White and skipper Steven Mullaney sit second and third respectively in the PCA Most Valuable Player Rankings following the opening round of LV= Insurance County Championship action.
Patterson-White produced a virtuoso performance, claiming his third first-class five-wicket haul and chipping in with 44 runs as Notts got off to a winning start by defeating Sussex by 10 wickets at Hove.
Meanwhile, Mullaney sits in third position with 44.7 MVP points after making a career best 192 in the same game, to move the green and golds from 52-4 to 539-9 declared and set up a ten-wicket victory.
Gloucestershire’s Ryan Higgins sits atop the table after the opening week, contributing heavily with both bat and ball to score a huge 68 MVP point.
Higgins scored 167 match runs and claimed match figures of 7-115, looking to force an unlikely victory against Northamptonshire after his side were 103-7 on the first day, and he eventually took them to within two wickets of a famous win.
Higgins’ teammate James Bracey scored 42.3 MVP points following a century of his own, meaning players from Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire currently dominate the top four.
Essex all-rounder Matt Critchley, who finished second in the Overall MVP last season, completes the top five after a dream Chelmsford debut saw him make 132 and claim 4-114. Critchley currently has 40.9 MVP points to his name.
Further MVP highlights included another debut ton, this time for Ed Pollock during his first outing for Worcestershire. Pollock’s 112 was also his maiden first-class century, the young opener earning the Match MVP with 36.8 MVP points which is enough to put him 13th in the rankings for now.
Warwickshire keeper Michael Burgess also made his career best score, notching 178 as the Bears began their title defence with a home draw against Surrey. Burgess scored 40.1 MVP points and is eighth in the MVP.
Joe Weatherley also scored big in a big win for Hampshire. His career best knock of 168 set up an innings victory over Somerset to get Hampshire off to the perfect start this season. Weatherley scored 38.7 MVP points and sits eleventh in the MVP.
On an unseasonably productive weekend for batters across the country, Leicestershire opener Hassan Azad played perhaps the most important innings of all. Azad’s match-saving 112 secured an unlikely draw with one wicket remaining for the Foxes against their local rivals Worcestershire on the final day, the batter scoring 30 MVP points.
The MVP Rankings were designed by the PCA in conjunction with CricViz and the players to recognise the top individual performers in the game. The algorithm takes into account match-winning contributions to determine the best players in any given fixture.
In 2022, there will be four MVP awards handed out for the men’s domestic game, one for each of the major competitions and a cross-format Overall MVP, determined by aggregate MVP points scored across all competitions.
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