Denly the ODI MVP after England tie SA series

Joe Denly has been named ODI MVP for the 2019/20 season after England’s tense two-wicket victory in Johannesburg saw them draw the three-match series against South Africa 1-1.

With just three T20Is against the same opposition and two Tests in Sri Lanka to come in England’s winter schedule, this series represented the side’s only 50-over fixtures of the 2019/20 season.

Added to that, the second match in Durban on Friday was washed out after just 11.2 overs, meaning Denly has claimed the award after just two completed fixtures.

The 33-year-old has, however, been good value for the ODI MVP prize, scoring 153 runs at an average of 76.5 across his two innings over the past week. That translates into 34.5 ODI MVP points for the winter, comfortably clear of Chris Woakes with 16 points in second place.

Prior to the third and final fixture at Imperial Wanderers stadium, it had looked like it would be a close race between Denly and Woakes for the ODI MVP, with only three MVP points separating the two on Sunday morning. However, with Woakes rested ahead of next week’s T20Is, it was unlikely that a challenger would ever emerge to unseat Denly in Johannesburg.

In the match itself, an excellent collective bowling display set the platform for England’s victory, as they restricted South Africa to 256 on a traditionally fast and bouncy pitch at the Wanderers.

Much of the Three Lions’ good work was inspired by the returning Adil Rashid, who produced some of the most impressive bowling of his international career to date in claiming 3-51 from his set of 10 overs.

The leg-spinner, who moved into 5th on the all-time list of English ODI wicket takers during his 100th appearance in the format, also ran out Beuran Hendricks, and his resulting 13 MVP points were enough to see him move up to fifth in the ODI table.

The PCA’s Most Valuable Player Rankings system was developed by the Association in conjunction with the players to recognise the key influencers and match-winning performers in any given fixture.

On top of traditional batting and bowling averages, bonus points are awarded for important disciplines such as claiming top-order wickets, scoring quickly and taking catches in the field.

At international level, MVPs are named following the conclusion of both of England’s summer and winter schedules, with one award for each format and a main Overall prize.

Denly is the first man to win the ODI MVP since Chris Woakes following the conclusion of England’s successful 2019 Cricket World Cup campaign. With a T20 World Cup in Australia on the horizon, attention now turns to the shortest format and the T20I MVP in particular.

With England having played five T20I fixtures in New Zealand already this winter, the table is already beginning to take shape and we will know the identity of the 2019/20 T20I MVP come late afternoon on Sunday.

Dawid Malan could be in line for a return to England’s limited overs set-up – he is currently the runaway leader of the T20I MVP with 63 points at an average of 15.65 per game so far this winter.

He leads from skipper Eoin Morgan in second position with 48 T20I MVP points to his name, and Chris Jordan in third with 44. Sam Curran (33) and James Vince (32) complete the current top five.

All this could quickly change though with three fixtures in a week to come and big names such as Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler likely to make a return to the side.

View the England MVP Rankings here.

Keep up-to-date with all the latest MVP news by following the @pcaMVP on Twitter.