MVP back for Women’s Ashes

The PCA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Rankings will return to keep track of the top performers throughout the multi-format Women’s Ashes, which begins with the first of three IT20s in Adelaide on Thursday.

It will be the first time that the England Women MVP has been in play this winter, with Heather Knight’s side having last taken to the field during their home ODI series against New Zealand in September.

Following the last fixture of that series in Canterbury, Nat Sciver was named the Overall MVP for summer 2021 with 173 MVP points across all formats, whilst Sophie Ecclestone, Knight and Sciver won the format-specific Test, ODI and IT20 MVPs respectively.

Looking ahead to the Ashes, England will be looking to end their eight-year hoodoo by claiming the trophy for the first time since they returned home victorious following the 2013-14 Ashes.

With Test, ODI and IT20 fixtures all a part of the points-based scoring system, multi-format players will need to come to the fore and score big MVP points for England to have the best chance of victory.

Though England’s preparations have been hampered by the rain, there was still time on Sunday for two internal warm-up T20 fixtures between the senior side and England A, who have been shadowing the first team on an away tour for the first time in another step forward for the women’s game.

Though England A came out on top in both fixtures, off-spinner Ecclestone returned figures of 7-14 in the first game, a healthy sign ahead of the series opener against Australia in Adelaide on Thursday.

Prior to that, Knight and Sciver both struck half centuries in a rain-affected 35-over match in Canberra on Friday, whilst Sciver, Ecclestone and Shrubsole were amongst the wickets.

The established quartet are joined by relative newcomers including Maia Bouchier and Charlie Dean in the squad of 17 who will be aiming for both MVP points and Ashes glory over the coming weeks as cricket’s oldest rivalry continues.

The MVP Rankings were designed by the PCA in conjunction with CricViz and the players to identify the top performers in the game from a statistical point of view.

The white-ball algorithm takes into account expected performance on every ball from both a batting and bowling standpoint, and also considers historical scores at the venue being played at.

At the end of England Women’s 2021-22 winter schedule, which also includes the upcoming World Cup in New Zealand, an MVP will be named in each of the Test, ODI and IT20 formats, as well as an aggregated Overall MVP which rewards the best player across all formats.

Find out more about the PCA MVP Rankings and view the England tables.

Follow @pcaMVP on Twitter to keep up-to-date with all the latest MVP news.