Gregory returns to MVP summit

Somerset’s star man Lewis Gregory continued his fine form this season and has returned to the summit of both the PCA’s Overall and County Championship Most Valuable Player Rankings.

The Championship returned this week with eight first-class matches and it was the all-rounder who made headlines with the bat against Surrey, smashing a scintillating unbeaten 129 off just 153 balls including five sixes. That didn’t stop Gregory from contributing with the ball, match figures of 5-125 reaffirmed the 26-year-old’s status as a genuine all-rounder with 51.34 MVP points to take the MVP of the match award.

Gregory has taken the MVP by storm so far this summer. After starting strongly in the first two rounds of Championship fixtures, the Somerset man has again shortened his odds of taking home £10,000 at the end of this summer with his performance this week, despite the game at Taunton ending in a draw.

Hot on Gregory’s heels in the County Championship MVP are two of Yorkshire’s finest. Ben Coad and Gary Ballance combined to sink Kent on their own patch, despite the White Rose finding themselves at 96-6 in the first innings.

Much of that was down to Ballance making 159 of Yorkshire’s 469 runs in the second innings, taking the game away from the Canterbury-based side in the process. The 29-year-faced 291 balls in a marathon knock and moved up to third position in the Championship MVP as a result.

Player of the match honours, however, went to Ballance’s teammate Coad. After the former had set the platform for victory, the paceman blitzed the Kent batting line-up with a devastating spell, taking 6-52 at an economy of just 2.09 runs per over. Combined with his three wickets in Kent’s first innings, Coad earned a match-winning 46.06 MVP points to move up to fourth in the Championship standings.

Sandwiched between Gregory and the Yorkshire duo in the Championship standings is Essex off-spinner Simon Harmer. The South African-born man took eight wickets in his side’s victory against Nottinghamshire, including 6-60 in a second innings dismantling of the hosts’ top order.

Notably, Harmer dismissed five of Nottinghamshire’s top six. The MVP formula is designed to reward match-winning performances. For example, extra points are awarded for, as in Harmer’s case, taking top-order wickets. Hitting a high proportion of your team’s runs, captaining the winning side or taking a catch will also pay dividends.

The algorithm recognises the importance of genuine all-rounders, such as Hampshire’s Liam Dawson. Despite a relatively quiet week in terms of his personal performance, Dawson completes the current top five thanks to his efforts earlier in the season.

He also sits second in the Overall MVP Rankings, where the likes of Gregory and Leicestershire’s Colin Ackermann have made significant strides over the course of this week.

The latter produced a solid all-round performance against Middlesex at Lord’s, making 63 and 70 not out with the bat, and producing match figures of 3-87 with the ball.

Gregory leads the Overall MVP by the significant margin of 21 points, with Dawson, Somerset’s Craig Overton, Ackermann and Nottinghamshire’s Luke Fletcher completing the top five.

Each will look to further stake his claim for top spot as the next round of County Championship fixtures gets underway from Sunday.

View the MVP Rankings here.

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