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Hampshire take the trophy but Denly awarded MVP of the One-Day Cup
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Kent’s Joe Denly has been awarded the PCA’s Most Valuable Player in the Royal London One-Day Cup despite Hampshire beating the Spitfires in the final at Lord’s on Saturday.
The batsman finished on 182 MVP points, 16 ahead of teammate Heino Kuhn after blowing away countless opposition throughout the One-Day Cup.
Hampshire Captain James Vince was the closest challenger outside of Kent, finishing in third with 128 points, signifying his role in leading the Ageas Bowl outfit to their first List A trophy since 2012.
Denly was awarded the MVP of the Match three times throughout the 50-over competition with his performance against Glamorgan arguably the best individual performance of the season.
He scored an unbeaten 150, before taking four wickets with his useful leg-spin which has proved to be a useful weapon throughout the summer, including in the final against Hampshire.
Kent Captain Sam Billings won the toss and elected to field and it was Denly who was the star man with the ball, once again taking four wickets for just 57 runs to restrict Hampshire to 330 at Lord’s.
Of the 330 it was Rilee Rossouw who led the way with 125 runs from 114 balls, a performance which earned him the MVP of the Match in the showpiece final. A superb fielding display coupled with clever bowling meant Hampshire beat kent by 61 runs despite Bell-Drummond’s 86 and Billings 75 while batting with the tail.
Denly could not carry on his impressive form with the bat with James Vince catching him off the bowling of Gareth Berg for 12. However, few could argue with the accolade awarded to Denly who has led the One-Day Cup MVP Rankings for the majority of the competition.
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In the South Group, he hit an unbeaten century against Gloucestershire following on his outrageous performance against Glamorgan as well as match-winning innings against Surrey and Somerset.
After the group stages the 32-year-old sat at the top on 147 points, followed by Middlesex’s Paul Stirling, Essex all-rounder Ravi Bopara and Billy Godleman of Derbyshire.
The England international was then the most economical bowler in the play-off against Nottinghamshire, bowling his 10 overs for just 42 runs before supporting Kuhn’s 124 not out with an unbeaten 55 to help the Spitfires into the semi-final.
Kuhn was again the star man against Worcestershire, his 127 taking Kent to the final whilst consolidating his position as the second best player in the 2018 One-Day Cup.
The MVP formula is designed to identify the match-winners and key influencers of games.
A more rigorous analysis of player performances than traditional batting and bowling averages, points are accrued for all runs scored and wickets taken and then adjusted within the context of the match.
The One-Day Cup Player of the Year captained his side three times in the absence of Billings, something which earns bonus points. His seven victories also earned extra points while catches, run-outs and stumpings are also accounted for in the Rankings.
Denly currently sits in second place in the Overall Rankings with teammate Matt Henry currently leading the way in the county game.
The winner of the Overall MVP wins £10,000 with Kent currently dominating the individual Rankings with Kuhn in third place ahead of Leicestershire’s Ben Raine and Ed Barnard of Worcestershire.
To view the MVP Rankings standings, click here.
Keep up-to-date with daily MVP news by following the rankings on Twitter.
