Moeen Ali will take a 29 points lead in England’s Professional Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player Rankings in Test cricket into the final match of the summer.
Ali added 26 more points from this week’s defeat by the West Indies at Headingley, 13 of them for his 93-ball 84 in
England’s second innings and nine more taking two wickets before the West Indies levelled the series.
The Worcestershire all-rounder will go into next week’s series decider at Lord’s on 182 points in Test Matches this season with Jimmy Anderson.
Anderson moved to 497 career Test wickets at Headingley after he took five for 76 in the West Indies’ first innings and earned himself 27 PCA MVP points.
All-rounder Ben Stokes is one place and two points behind Anderson with Joe Root, England’s Test captain, fourth on 144 points and Alastair Cook fifth with 107 points.
Mark Stoneman’s maiden Test half century in the second innings at Headingley earned the Surrey left-hander seven rankings points and Dawid Malan’s second half century in his short Test career secured 12 rankings points and helped him enter the top 10 in the Test PCA MVP.
The PCA MVP Rankings system identifies the match-winners and key influencers of matches throughout the domestic season.
The formula takes into account conditions, quality of opposition, captaincy and strike-rates as well as runs scored and wickets taken.
In the overall England PCA MVP Rankings, which cover all formats, Root still leads the way with 271 points followed by Stokes on 236 points and Ali on 227.
There is a gap of 69 points to Jonny Bairstow in fourth place with Anderson’s outstanding form in Test cricket alone this summer enough to take him to fifth place on 158 points.
Anderson has extended his lead in the all-time England rankings in Test cricket with 2,306 points since the PCA MVP system was introduced in 2007.
Stuart Broad is second on 2,188 points with Cook needing just 10 points at Lord’s to become the third member of the 2,000 club.
Cook’s points haul at Headingley took him past 2,500 career points in all formats with Broad topping the overall rankings on 3,352 points and Anderson second on 3,139.
Root needs 87 more points to reach 2,000 in all formats with Stokes requiring 113 points to reach the 1,500 points milestone.
The PCA MVP Rankings system was introduced in 2007 and was designed by the players to identify the match-winners and key influencers of matches throughout the domestic season.
The formula 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 fall later.
