Dawson’s double-double MVP

Hampshire all-rounder Liam Dawson has achieved a remarkable feat by retaining both the PCA Men’s Domestic Overall MVP and the Vitality County Championship Player of the Year this summer.

A total of 506 players competed in men’s domestic cricket this summer and the spin-bowling all-rounder dominated the circuit across formats to see himself earn two trophies along with £12,500 in prize money.

Dawson has been in supreme form this summer. Capped 20 times by England, the 34-year-old scored 1,280 runs and picked up 71 wickets from 34 matches across four different tournaments over the past six months. His tally of 54 wickets in the Vitality County Championship is the most he’ ever achieved in one campaign. He also scored three centuries and picked up five wickets in an innings on five occasions this season which also included one 10-wicket haul.

He topped both the Overall MVP charts as well as the County Championship leaderboard for the second season in a now. The left-arm spinner finished the domestic campaign with 635.22 Overall MVP points with 436.51 coming from his excellent performances in the game’s longest format.

Over the course of the domestic season, the right-handed batter won a total of six Match MVPs – four of which came in the Vitality County Championship and one each were earned in The Hundred and Vitality Blast.

Dominating the County Championship campaign, Dawson’s best performance came against Lancashire where Hampshire secured a convincing innings and 37-run victory on that occasion, thanks to their in-form all-rounder. He scored an unbeaten 104 and picked up two five-wicket hauls to end the game with figures of 10-99. He earned his highest Match MVP points haul, of 68.49.

The defending Men’s Overall MVP winner also had a huge role to play in Hampshire’s 235-run victory over Worcestershire earlier this month. He collected 65.94 Match MVP points after scoring 109 in the first innings and then picking up yet another five-wicket haul along the way. He added another 51 runs and two wickets in the second innings to help his side claim victory.

He also had a stellar outing in The Hundred, playing for London Spirit against Welsh Fire. At Lord’s, the all-rounder took three wickets whilst conceding just 10 runs from his full quota of 20 balls. This economical spell saw him end up with 23.54 MVP points.

Hampshire have had two exceptional performers this season. Their captain James Vince finished the Overall standings behind his teammate in second place with 489.27 points, improving on his rankings in the 2023 Men’s Overall where he finished third. Warwickshire all-rounder Ed Barnard ended another consistent campaign, finishing third with 480.85 points and the star performer in the Metro Bank one Day Cup.

The Men’s Domestic Overall MVP is selected by the PCA Most Valuable Player Rankings, with Dawson leading the charts for the majority of the season. The formula enables players to score or lose MVP points on every ball based on their expected performance for that ball in comparison to CricViz’s extensive historical database, with the venue being played at also taken into account.

After being named the PCA Men’s Domestic Overall MVP and the Vitality County Championship Player of the Year, Dawson said: “I am extremely delighted. To do it for two years in a row is a very proud moment. In 2023 I had a really good year and then to make this year even better is something I didn’t think I’d be able to do. I’m very pleased to back it up again.

“The consistency of being able to do it again and actually improve on last year is a very pleasing thing to do, that’s the biggest thing I am proud of this season.

“The MVP has a lot of insights, and a lot goes into it to make it work so as players it’s shows a true reflection of how our seasons have gone. Obviously, it helps being an all-rounder as you can contribute more with the bat and the ball. It’s a really good system that the players enjoy keeping track of.

“This winter I’m going back to the SA20 with Sunrisers, it was a brilliant competition last year and then hopefully another couple of things pop up, but let’s see what happens.”

Dawson becomes the second player to retain both the Men’s Overall MVP and the County Championship Player of the Year in recent years. Essex spinner Simon Harmer achieved the same feat by winning the honours in 2019 and 2020.

He now joins Gloucestershire seamer David Payne and Warwickshire’s 50-over captain Barnard in winning a men’s domestic individual MVP award this summer.

Payne helped his side win the Vitality Blast title for the first time in their history and secured the Vitality Blast Player of the Year on Finals Day. Barnard, on the other hand, similar to the Hampshire spinner, retained the Metro Bank One Day Cup Player of the Year by accumulating 180.05 MVP points.

Dawson, meanwhile, has also been shortlisted for the 2024 cinch PCA Men’s Player of the Year. He is nominated alongside Gus Atkinson, Colin Ingram and Joe Root for the prestigious award. The winner of the award will be revealed at the 2024 cinch PCA Awards on 1 October.

View the Men’s Domestic Overall and County Championship MVP tables here.