MVP race to heat up during Ashes

Following their recent victory over the West Indies, the England players will be vying to rise up the Professional Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player Ranking during their much-anticipated Ashes clash with Australia, which gets underway in Leicester on Tuesday.

Although Heather Knight’s side have emerged victorious from each of their last 14 completed fixtures, a stiff challenge awaits in the form of the current Ashes holders and number one ranked side in the world in limited overs formats.

The 2019 Women’s Ashes takes place over the course of three ODIs, a single Test match at Taunton and three T20Is. Four points are awarded for a Test victory (or two each in the case of a draw) and two for a win in a limited-overs match. If the scores are tied at the end of the series, the Ashes will stay with Australia.

As a result, the squad will be reliant on consistent outstanding individual performances if they are to lift the coveted trophy at the end of the month.

The PCA will be keeping track of the top performers via its purpose-built MVP Rankings.

The MVP formula was designed by the PCA in conjunction with the players to reward match-winning performances. On top of traditional batting and bowling averages, bonus points are awarded for scoring quickly, hitting a high proportion of your team’s runs and taking top order wickets, amongst other things.

Amy Jones currently leads the England Women’s Overall Ranking going into this Ashes series.

The wicketkeeper-batsman was previously crowned the 2018/19 winter MVP after compiling four fifties in the final six games of her team’s tour of India and Sri Lanka.

Since then, the Rankings has been reset for summer 2019, but Jones enjoyed an excellent bilateral series against a West Indies side which failed to regularly trouble a confident and experienced England team.

The Warwickshire star was the top scorer from either side in the three-match ODI series, compiling 189 runs at an average of 63. She also provided a decent showing in the only completed T20I fixture, smashing 37 from 27 balls as she opened the batting alongside Danni Wyatt.

Although the return of Sarah Taylor has forced Jones to relinquish her wicketkeeping responsibilities for the time being, the 26-year-old has done enough with the bat to lead the Overall MVP by just 0.05 points from teammate and captain Knight.

Knight is expected to be fit for the opener after recovering from a hamstring injury and has benefitted from her side’s recent excellent form to excel in the MVP. She has been awarded four bonus points so far this summer for captaining the winning side on four separate occasions.

Nevertheless, Knight’s all-round talents mean she would still be sitting comfortably in second place even if she didn’t enjoy this particular advantage over her colleagues.

Completing the current top five is a trio of bowlers in the form of Kate Cross, Sophie Ecclestone and Katherine Brunt.

The last member of the England squad to win the MVP award on home soil was opening batsman Tammy Beaumont.

Beaumont accrued a remarkable 106 batting points, over 60 more than her closest rival, during series against South Africa and New Zealand in 2018.

The 28-year-old had a summer to remember as she hit three consecutive centuries against the former, with the last coming as England posted a world record IT20 score of 250-3.

Beaumont will hope to replicate such scintillating form against the old enemy this summer, joining Jones and Knight in bidding to become the 2019 Overall MVP.

View the MVP Rankings here.

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