PCA PRESS RELEASE
England start the five-match ODI series against Australia without the leading three men in the overall winter PCA MVP.
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Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Alastair Cook will play no part in the series, giving a number of players trailing them the chance to take a lead in the rankings.
Joe Root sits outside the top three in fourth place, but will almost certainly overtake Cook in the ODI series, with both on 67 points – Cook has a slightly higher point average however, putting him ahead.
Root finished the summer as England’s leading ODI player in the rankings, but is suffering from illness that forced him to retire from his innings in the fifth Ashes Test. It remains to be seen how much he will play in the ODI series.
Dawid Malan, fifth place in the rankings, has been brought into the ODI squad and has the chance to also break into the top three of the overall winter rankings. The batsman is within touching distance of Root and Cook, and a couple of good innings will propel him up the PCA MVP rankings order.
Two players just outside the overall top five, but certainly hot on the heels of Root and Malan is Chris Woakes and Jonny Bairstow.
Bairstow cemented his place in the 50-over squad last summer, and can make a real push up the rankings, whilst Woakes has enjoyed white ball success in the past for England.
Away from the Test squad, players are coming in with plenty of white ball experience already this winter in Australia.
Jos Buttler has been in fine form for the Sydney Thunder in his Big Bash stint. The ODI Vice-Captain smashed two half-centuries during the six games he played in the competition.
Sam Billings has also impressed with the bat on the pink side of Sydney for the sixers. In his last innings for the side he nearly saw them over the line, with 18 needed off the last three balls. Sending two out the ground, he couldn’t quite get the third over the line, but finished 61 not out.
David Willey (Perth Scorchers) and Jason Roy (Sydney Sixers) have also featured in the tournament. Willey in particular, has been part of a successful Perth bowling attack, getting the ball to talk with Mitchell Johnson.
All four will be hoping to make an impression in the PCA ODI MVP rankings.
