Warwickshire all-rounder Keith Barker has opened up a 50 points lead at the top of the Professional Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player Rankings.
Barker began the week as joint leader with Middlesex opening batsman Sam Robson and Yorkshire batsman/wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow but ended it with a commanding lead after he impressed with bat and ball in the Specsavers County Championship victory over Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.
Barker made 113 in Warwickshire’s first innings 373 – 30 per cent of the total – and shared a county record eighth wicket stand against Nottinghamshire of 167 with Chris Woakes.
Barker then took two first innings and wickets and four more in Nottinghamshire’s second innings – all but one of them in the top four – to take 59 points PCA MVP points from the fixture, his best match haul of the season.
Warwickshire’s former England batsman Jonathan Trott also enjoyed a productive match at Trent Bridge with a half century in each innings which gave him 22 PCA MVP points and took him ninth in the rankings.
The PCA MVP, which was introduced in 2007, is designed by the players to find the cricketers who really win matches by combining all aspects of a player’s performance to give a ranking in relation to his peers.
The PCA MVP leader board can be viewed here: http://www.thepca.co.uk/county-mvp.html
