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Kent star wins this month’s award with 58% of the public vote.
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Kent’s Zak Crawley has been voted the PCA Player of the Month for September 2020 on the back of his excellent form in the Vitality Blast as well as a solitary Bob Willis Trophy fixture.
With the winner chosen via a public poll on the PCA website, the Kent star earned a huge 58% of the vote, holding off the challenge of Somerset’s Lewis Gregory (30%) and Surrey duo Will Jacks (7.5%) and Dan Moriarty (4.5%).
The four-man shortlist was identified by the PCA Most Valuable Player Rankings, which has kept track of the top performers in domestic cricket throughout the season, with Crawley earning 120 MVP points at an average of 13.3 points-per-game from his nine appearances in all formats this month.
He is the second player to win the award in this truncated summer, after Bob Willis Trophy MVP Craig Overton picked up the prize at the end of August.
It marks an excellent return to the domestic stage for Crawley, who had previously enjoyed a dream red-ball summer with the bat for his country.
“I’ve loved being back at Kent,” Crawley reflected, “I’ve really enjoyed being around the lads again, some of whom I’ve obviously been mates with for years now.
“I’ve really been enjoying my cricket, a lot of which obviously has to do with me being in decent form, which can be quite rare at this level! I’m very grateful to have won Player of the Month because Lewis Gregory, Will Jacks and Dan Moriarty have had great months themselves. It’s a great honour.”
One of the clear highlights of Crawley’s month was his stunning maiden T20 hundred against Hampshire – the batsman eventually finishing on an unbeaten 108 from 54 balls. The 22-year-old, who has not yet made a white-ball appearance at international level, hopes knocks like that can help him to push for a spot in England’s limited overs side.
“It’s brilliant to have scored a hundred in T20. It’s quite rare so it’s a great thing to be able to do. Hopefully it’s shown people that I can play white-ball cricket and I’d love to play all formats for England. That’s a way off but down the line I’d love to do that, so hopefully this puts my name in the hat a bit more.”
In the short-term, however, Crawley is purely focussed on domestic success with his native Kent. He is hoping to pick up his first trophy with the county on Vitality Blast Finals Day this Saturday, but the Spitfires must first navigate a tricky away quarter-final against Surrey on Thursday.
“The best feeling you can have playing domestic cricket is lifting a trophy so that would be really special.”
ZAK CRAWLEY
“We’ve obviously been winning games and we’re looking really good for this year’s Vitality Blast, so hopefully I can get a few more runs in October, but if it’s not me then we’ve got plenty of other candidates. That’s the beauty of our side, we’ve got plenty of strength in depth in both our batting and our bowling.
“Daniel Bell-Drummond (who is in contention to win the Vitality Blast MVP) has been brilliant this month, especially in the T20s. He’s made it easy for me in that format. I can just go about my business because he’s smoking it at the other end.
“The best feeling you can have playing domestic cricket is lifting a trophy so that would be really special.”
The MVP formula was designed by the PCA in conjunction with the players to identify the match-winning performers in any given fixture. On top of traditional batting and bowling averages, bonus points are awarded for key contributions such as scoring a high proportion of your team’s runs, claiming top-order wickets and taking catches in the field.
The Rankings therefore give the most accurate reflection of the best players in the game, with Crawley proving to be just that this September.
This year’s Vitality Blast Finals Day will be in support of the Professional Cricketers’ Trust, with both funds for – and awareness of – the charity being raised throughout the day. Professional cricket’s leading non-profit offers life-changing assistance to PCA members and their immediate families when they need it most
View the Overall MVP Rankings here.
Keep up-to-date with the latest MVP news by following the @pcaMVP on Twitter.
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MVP EXPLAINED
PCA Most Valuable Player Rankings formula explained in 75 seconds...
