Alastair Cook has moved into the top 10 of this season’s Professional Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player Rankings after back to back centuries.
Cook has enjoyed a productive week with The Eagles in the Royal London One-Day Cup following up his first List A century in five years against Gloucestershire with another in yesterday’s 10 runs home win over Sussex Sharks.
Cook is enjoying an inspired run of form for the Club. and has demonstrated that he is also a lethal asset to have in limited-overs cricket, contributing 40 per cent of Essex’s runs against Gloucestershire and 37 per cent against Sussex.
His 109 yesterday helped Essex recover from losing Varun Chopra, Tom Westley and Adam Wheater to a Jerome Taylor hat-trick with Cook at the non-striker’s end.
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.
Cook’s rich vein of form in 50 overs cricket followed consistent performances in the Specsavers County Championship including a century in the win over Somerset at Taunton last month.
His 110 made up 43 per cent of Essex’s second innings total and helped Cook earn 28 PCA MVP points and a match haul of 48 points.
Cook is also Essex’s highest-ranked player in the PCA MVP for this season’s One-Day Cup in 12th place with 71 points, 27 behind Glamorgan all-rounder Colin Ingram, the new leader.
Ravi Bopara is in 25th place with 58 points, eight places and five points above Ryan ten Doeschate.
Bopara is third in the all-time rankings for 50 overs cricket with 509 points, 43 behind Nottinghamshire’s Samit Patel and 83 adrift of Somerset’s Peter Trego.
But Bopara can still boast the best match return in 50 overs cricket since the PCA MVP system was introduced in 2007.
He took 49 points from the seven wickets win against Lancashire at Chelmsford in 2015, 31 of them for his 101 from 98 balls after he had taken four for 31.
The full PCA MVP Rankings table can be viewed here
What are the PCA MVP Rankings?
The PCA MVP Rankings system was introduced in 2007 and was designed by the players to identify the match-winners and key influencers of matches throughout the domestic season.
The 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.
