Prolific van Jaarsveld Opens Lead In MVP
Martin van Jaarsveld's fourth hundred of the Friends Provident Trophy (FPT) campaign guided Kent into their first Lord's final for eleven years at the expense of Durham. It capped a fine week for the South African who had already scored two unbeaten hundreds and taken five wickets in the Championship (LVCC) match against Surrey. He is ranked first in the overall MVP and has opened up a 26-point gap at the top of the FPT MVP. He has scored 602 runs in the FPT, which represents a third of Kent's total runs in the competition.
The final on August 16th between Kent and Essex throws van Jaarsveld together with his closest challenger in the FPT MVP Ravi Bopara. The Essex and England all-rounder has scored 492 runs, including that memorable 201 in the quarters against Leicestershire, as well as taking nine wickets.
The race for the FPT MVP looks like being a straight shoot out between the top two although their county colleagues Ryan ten Doeschate and Yasir Arafat will have a mathematical - albeit slim - chance to reel them in at Lord's . The Pakistani paceman has 24 wickets in the competition never failing to take less than a couple of wickets in any match to date. Ten Doeschate has shot up to third in the overall MVP with great performances in all forms, but it was his 3-30 and a run out against Yorkshire which pushed him into the top ten of the FPT MVP. He will start the final a massive 56 points and six places behind van Jaarsveld.
From an MVP perspective the biggest Twenty20 (T20) quarter final this week will take place at Chelmsford where top-ranked Graham Napier takes on his closest challenger Andrew Hall. Napier has scored 283 runs in the Cup at an incredible strike rate of 1.99 and taken 11 wickets at an economy rate of 7.21, while Hall has 233 runs at 1.18 and 18 wickets with an economy rate 7.69. Napier's finest moment was his heroic 152 not out of 58 balls against Sussex; Hall's highlights were his 6-21 against Worcestershire and 5-29 versus Glamorgan.
Middlesex all rounder Tyrone Henderson will hope to continue his fine form in the Twenty20 when the Crusaders entertain the Lancashire Lightning at the Oval. Henderson, who is currently ranked third in the T20 MVP, has scored 158 runs at a healthy strike rate of 1.78 and taken 18 wickets with an economy rate of 6.63. Henderson will need to get the better of powerful ball-striker Lou Vincent who is the only out and out batsman in the top ten of the T20 MVP. The Lightning opener has scored 267 runs at a strike rate of 1.28 including 102 off 63 balls against Derbyshire.
If Durham are to bounce back from their FPT defeat to Kent they will need to find a way of curbing the attacking flair of T20 leading run-scorer Anthony McGrath, who has contributed over 31% of Yorkshire's runs in the competition. McGrath has racked up 392 runs at a strike rate of 1.32 including four fifties and is currently ranked fourth in the T20 MVP; there is not a Durham player in the top ten.
The last quarter final sees Kent Spitfires travel to Edgbaston to take on the Warwickshire Bears. Kent will look to Azhar Mahmood, who has got them out of many tight situations in this year's competition, to maintain his high standards. He has scored 239 runs at 1.72 and taken 13 wickets to boot. Mahmood's new ball partner Yasir Arafat is the other big threat to the Bears. He has taken 16 wickets and is often promoted up the batting order to give Kent's innings early impetus. Warwickshire, like Durham, have no players in the T20 MVP.
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