Martin van Jaarsveld Wins Friends Provident MVP But Essex Win Trophy - 18/08/2008
The title of the Friends Provident Trophy (FPT) MVP will be of scant consolation to Kent's Martin van Jaarsveld, who finished on the losing side at Lord's in Saturday's final. The South African held Kent's top order together in favourable bowling conditions before holing out off a miscued pull shot for 58. It was his third fifty in addition to four magnificent hundreds from nine games in this year's competition taking his tally to 660 runs. He scored over 32% of Kent's runs in the FPT and finished a whopping 29 points clear of his nearest rival Ravi Bopara.
Bopara was harshly adjudged lbw as Essex hunted down their victory target of 215 but he picked up a couple of wickets and was a key part of Essex's lively fielding unit. He finished with 499 runs including that extraordinary double century in the quarter-final against Leicestershire and also took 11 wickets.
Yasir Arafat was the leading wicket taker in the FPT but Essex succeeded in blunting his threat with the new ball. Arafat went wicket-less for the first time in this year's FPT but did contribute 27 valuable runs to push his team to a competitive score an himself into third spot in the FPT MVP. He finished with 67 runs and 24 wickets.
Samit Patel was the only man in the top five of the FPT MVP not to have taken part in Saturday's final. The Nottinghamshire batting all-rounder is having a fine season across all cricket and he finished the competition in fourth position courtesy of 254 runs including 114 against Durham and 14 wickets. Notts bowed out in the group stage.
Ryan ten Doeschate has been instrumental in the majority of Essex's wins this summer and he played his part again in Saturday's final. He bowled six tidy overs towards the end of the Kent innings before helping Grant Flower steer the Eagles over the line with 30 not out off just 29 balls. The Dutch international finished in fifth place with 331 runs and 9 wickets.
Essex and Kent's strong seasons are reflected in the fact they have six players in the overall MVP top ten. Kent have van Jaarsveld at the top of the pile, then Azhar Mahmood, Arafat and Ryan McLaren in fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively, while Essex have Bopara in fourth and ten Doeschate in ninth.
Tim Bresnan, an ever present in the top ten, is third behind Patel after another consistent week in the Championship (LVCC) where he scored 47 and took 2-34 in the rain-affected match versus Lancs. Bresnan's 442 runs and 40 wickets in the Championship see him ranked first in the LVCC MVP.
Marcus Trescothick is a new entry into the overall MVP top ten this week after breaking the thousand run mark in the Championship with an innings of 158 against Surrey at Taunton. The former England opener has 1776 runs across all cricket and 20 catches. He is ranked eighth overall, tenth in the LVCC and first in the Pro40 MVP.
Rankings Bulletins
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