Worcestershire Rapids all-rounder Alex Hepburn made his mark in this season’s Professional Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player Rankings by returning his county’s best NatWest T20 Blast bowling figures in yesterday’s clash against Notts Outlaws at New Road.
Hepburn took 5-24 which earned him 19 PCA MVP points although it was not enough to bring the Rapids victory as the table-topping Outlaws secured an 11 runs win.
Before this season Hepburn had accumulated only 31 rankings points in his career – all of them in the Royal London One Day Cup in 2015 from two appearances against Leicestershire and Derbyshire which yielded six wickets.
But he now has 25 points from three Blast appearances in the past week.
Mitchell Santner is Worcestershire’s highest-ranked player in this season’s Blast rankings.
The New Zealand all-rounder is in 17th position on 111 points with opener Joe Clarke 23rd on 96 points.
Wicketkeeper Ben Cox is 43rd with 84 points with Brett D’Oliveira just outside the top 50 in 51st position on 78 points.
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 PCA MVP, Worcestershire captain Joe Leach is the county’s highest-ranked player in 16th position with 309 points.
Opening batsman Daryl Mitchell, the PCA Chairman, is 20th with 292 points with Clarke 33rd on 267 points across all formats, Cox 39th on 253 and D’Oliveira 45th on 244 points.
Mitchell is Worcestershire’s best-placed player in the Specsavers County Championship rankings in 24th position with 144 points with seamer Ed Barnard five places and five points further back.
Paceman Josh Tongue has moved into 34th place in his debut season with 131 points in the four-day competition with Clarke 41st on 126 points.
