Vote for September’s Player of the Month

Yorkshire duo Gary Ballance and Jack Brooks are joined by Hampshire’s Kyle Abbott and Essex seamer Jamie Porter in being shortlisted for the Professional Cricketers’ Association Player of the Month for September.

The four topped the PCA Most Valuable Player Rankings in September for domestic cricket and the winner will now be decided by supporters through a vote at the bottom of this article as well as on the Sky Sports app and website. Voting is open and will close at 9am on Monday October 1.

The MVP formula provides a more rigorous analysis of player performances than traditional batting and bowling averages, the algorithm gives full credit to those players whose performances improve their team’s chances of winning.

Points are accrued for all runs scored and wickets taken, these are then adjusted within the context of the match to take into account strike rates and economy rates.

Runs gain more points if they are scored quickly or in low-scoring contests. Top order wickets are judged more valuable than those that fa later. Catches, run-outs and stumpings are also accounted for as well as bonus points for captains and players who are on the victorious side.

With the Rankings creating the shortlist for the PCA Player of the Month, it is up to supporters to vote for the eventual winner and here are the contenders:

Talk about finishing the season strong…

Abbott brought in more MVP points than anyone else in September with 114.41 to his name. The tall South African was in sparkling form with the ball, taking 23 wickets, with three five-wicket hauls in a row. He followed up his 6-39 against Essex by taking 11 wickets again Somerset as they wrapped up victory inside two days.

His exploits secured the first division status of Hampshire as he signed off the 2018 season in style including Hampshire’s first hat-trick since 2006 as he ran through Worcestershire at the start of the month.

The young seamer has missed out on a place in England’s touring squad to Sri Lanka but showed no signs of this affecting his game.

25 wickets in the month, including a stunning 7-41 against Worcestershire showed why he is still very much on the radar of national selection, especially on pitches that will be an assistance to his brand of bowling. His spell against Worcestershire was enough to relegate them to Division Two as he took career-best figures at Chelmsford.

He finished the month with 113.69 MVP points, including three wins in the four games he played.

Simply put, Gary Ballance is a middle-order run machine. 489 runs in September is a stunning return, including two centuries may have given the national selectors a little reminder of his prodigious talent.

His 194 against Worcestershire was the perfect way to sign off the season as he went past 10,000 first-class runs and brought up his 35^th first-class ton.

At 28, it is far too young to write him off for England duty, and the form he showed this month proves he is still one of the very best batsman in the country. His tally of 100.14 MVP points puts him just slightly ahead of teammate Jack Brooks.

It was a superb ending to an epic stay at Headingly for the ‘Headband Warrior’. Brooks departs for Somerset but certainly took the month of September to leave his mark on a county which treated him as one of their own from the start.

He took 21 wickets in the month, including two five-wicket hauls as he gave the Yorkshire faithful another reminder why he was such a key-part to their success over recent years.

Not only did he take wickets but he also smashed 82 on his farewell from Leeds in an epic record-breaking ninth-wicket partnership of 171 with Gary Ballance against Worcestershire.

A simple Twitter search of his names shows how much he meant to the fans and teammates as they have paid tribute to a departing modern legend of the club.