PORTER’S CAREER BESTS PROPEL HIM INTO PCA MVP RANKINGS TOP FOUR

Porter’s career bests propel him into PCA MVP Rankings top four Career-best match and innings bowling figures have propelled Essex pace bowler Jamie Porter into the top four of this season’s Professional Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player Rankings for the Specsavers County Championship. Porter followed up his five for 40 in Somerset’s first innings at Chelmsford with a career-best seven for 55 in the second to finish with a match haul of 12 for 95. Porter earned 28 PCA MVP points for his first innings bowling and followed up with 33 more in Somerset’s second innings towards a match return of 64 rankings points. That healthy haul helped Porter move to fourth in the championship rankings on 257 points, a place behind his Essex team mate Simon Harmer, the former South Africa off-spinner, who has 260 points in the competition, and 18 points behind the leader, Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens. Stevens, 41, enjoyed another productive week in the rankings, taking a career-best eight for 75 in the rain-ruined draw against his former county, Leicestershire, at Canterbury. Stevens earned 30 PCA MVP points to stretch his lead in the championship points table since the PCA MVP Rankings were introduced in 2007 to 2,713. Stevens’ points against Leicestershire also took him past 5,000 career rankings points in all formats which made him only the second player to reach the landmark after Nottinghamshire all-rounder Samit Patel who got there in June. Patel also heads this season’s overall PCA MVP with 479 points across all formats, a lead of 49 points over Glamorgan’s former South Africa all-rounder Colin Ingram who was rested for the championship defeat by Sussex at Colwyn Bay ahead of Saturday’s NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day. 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. Durham’s former England all-rounder Paul Collingwood has climbed to third in the overall PCA MVP after he made 177 and earned 28 rankings points in the win over Derbyshire at Chester-le-Street. In the process Collingwood became only the third player after Patel and Ingram to top 400 points across all formats this season. Somerset pace bowler Craig Overton and Sussex’s Jofra Archer are close to joining the exclusive club. Overton needs just one point and Archer two to reach the 400 points milestone. Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin made an impressive first entry in the PCA MVP by taking eight wickets in the match to help Worcestershire beat Gloucestershire at New Road. Ashwin took five for 68 in the second innings and finished his county debut with 41 rankings points. Lancashire all-rounder Liam Livingstone, capped by England in T20 cricket earlier this season, also made his mark in the rankings by making a double century in the victory over Warwickshire at Old Trafford. Livingstone’s first innings 224 netted him 42 PCA MVP points towards a match haul of 50 points and took him to 42nd in the championship rankings and 45th overall. To see the full PCA MVP table click here.