Sciver, Jones and Root are MVPs

Nat Sciver and Amy Jones have won the PCA England Women Overall and IT20 MVP awards for 2020/21 respectively after whitewashing New Zealand 3-0 in the IT20s, while Joe Root was named the Test MVP for the men’s side following the conclusion of the India series.

All-rounder Sciver has carried on her overseas success after winning both the Overall and IT20 MVP awards last winter. This time around, she claimed 64.3 MVP points from her six appearances during England’s highly successful tour of New Zealand, which saw them win the ODI series 2-1 and the IT20 series 3-0.

Sciver has been a key contributor during that run, scoring 21.4 MVP points with the bat and 35.9 with the ball – making her comfortably England’s top performer in that discipline – and she even earned a bonus point for captaining the winning side after Heather Knight missed the final IT20 with a minor hip injury.

Her average of 10.72 points-per-game was the highest of any player on tour, 0.4 more than opener Tammy Beaumont who has been in inspired form with the bat in recent times.

Beaumont finishes second in the Overall MVP with 61.6 MVP points having moved to the top of the ICC’s ODI batting rankings earlier on in the tour.

She earned a huge 53.6 MVP points in the batting discipline alone – almost twice as many as England’s next most effective batsman Knight (27.4) – after scoring 231 runs in the ODIs and 102 in the IT20s, making her the top scorer from either side in both series.

Amy Jones completes the Overall top three with 59.5 points, with Knight (39.5 points) in fourth position and leg-spinner Sarah Glenn (38.4) in fifth.

Wicketkeeper Jones has earned herself further individual recognition in the format-specific IT20 MVP, however, finishing as comfortably England’s top performer in the series with 45.4 MVP points at an average of 15.1 points-per-game.

Jones’ prowess behind the stumps has been pivotal for England in the shortest format, her single catch and remarkable seven stumpings contributing 36 points to her final tally in that discipline alone.

The 27-year-old was the MVP of the Match in the final fixture of England’s winter schedule in Wellington, scoring 15 vital runs at more than a run a ball in a low scoring contest before claiming three stumpings, including the removal of two of New Zealand’s top four.

Jones finishes 19.1 MVP points clear of second placed Sophie Ecclestone (26.3 MVP points) in the IT20 MVP, with Sciver (25.8), top performing bowler Glenn (24.4) and breakthrough star Freya Davies (24), who claimed career best figures of 4-23 in the second IT20, completing the top five.

England’s bowlers have dominated the 20-over leg of the New Zealand tour, with opener and top performing batsman Beaumont finishing in sixth position with 22.9 MVP points, despite earning over twice as many batting points as any other player with 18.9.

Despite a difficult end to England men’s tour of India, skipper Root was named England’s Test MVP after his side left the subcontinent with three wins and three losses in the longest format.

Root earned 163 MVP points throughout his side’s six Test Matches this winter, at an average of 27.2 points-per-game.

His three consecutive scores of 150+ throughout England’s two Tests in Sri Lanka and the first Test in India meant he was easily England’s biggest contributor in the batting discipline with 125.8 points. England’s next most effective batsman was Dan Lawrence, who made his debut in Sri Lanka, with 38.7 points.

Despite a difficult tour for the batsmen, England’s spinners found some joy as Jack Leach (127.7 MVP points) and Dom Bess (85.3) finished second and third in the Test MVP.

James Anderson was England’s fourth most effective player with 65.1 points whilst all-rounder Ben Stokes completes the top five with 52.1 points.

With the Test MVP Rankings finalised, the battle for the IT20 MVP is set to continue as England look forward to five IT20 fixtures against India, the first taking place in Ahmedabad on Friday 12 March.

View the England MVP Rankings.

Find out more about the PCA MVP Rankings.

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