Denly has eyes on Overall MVP prize

Joe Denly is having a campaign to remember with more excellent performances pushing him closer to the £10,000 Overall MVP end of season prize.

The 32-year-old has already picked up the MVP for the Royal London One-Day Cup and has his eyes firmly set on a One-Day Cup, Vitality Blast double.

Denly has already 300 runs to his name in the Blast and with Kent set to progress to the next round he’ll be hoping to further extend his Overall MVP lead over second place Ben Raine.

Leicestershire’s Raine has also enjoyed a fine year so far, but has slipped 72 points behind the Kent man.

With Leicestershire already eliminated from the Blast, Raine will have to rely on performances in the Specsavers County Championship to keep up the pressure at the top of the leaderboard.

Cricket stalwarts Rikki Clarke (377 points) and Ian Bell remain in contention for the Overall MVP accolade after some sublime performances have placed them third and fourth respectively in the Rankings.

Clarke’s performances have helped Surrey dominate the County Championship Division 1 as well as stay in the running during for T20 progression. The 36-year-old has featured heavily in a Surrey side that has lost players this summer to International duty, but has continues to keep their charge for the division one title going.

Warwickshire’s Ian Bell has been in sparkling form all summer, but has really turned on the style in the Vitality Blast.

The former England man has 561 runs to his name at an average of 51 and is now up to fourth place in both the PCA MVP overall and T20 rankings.

A name to keep an eye on is the returning Matt Henry, who will resume his County Championship season with Kent at the end of the month.

The Kiwi international still leads the red-ball rankings after a phenomenal start to the season in division two. He took 49 wickets in only six matches at an average of 13.40 and racked up 226 MVP points in doing so. He has slipped down to tenth in the Overall MVP Rankings, but could still be very much in the running if he hits the same heights he did earlier in the season.

With the final Vitality Blast fixtures to be played before this weekend, Australian star Aaron Finch will be desperate for his Surrey side to progress to put current leader Denly under pressure. The hard-hitter has been at his destructive best this summer for Surrey and is averaging an astonishing 136 over eight games.

Smashing 545 runs, with a high-score of 131 not out, Finch has taken the Vitality Blast by storm. In this kind of mood, it might only be the possibility of non-qualification from Surrey that prevents Finch from disposing Denly at the top of the Blast MVP Rankings.

To view the Overall MVP Rankings click here.