Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens, Gloucestershire seamer Liam Norwell and Yorkshire pair Gary Ballance and Ben Coad are the shortlisted candidates for the new Professional Cricketers’ Association Player of the Month Award.
The four topped the PCA Most Valuable Player Rankings after the first month of the domestic season and the winner will now be decided by supporters through a poll on the Sky Sports app and website – www.skysports.com/cricket.
Voting will open at 8am on Tuesday May 2 and close at 7pm on Wednesday May 3. The April winner will then be presented with the first of the PCA Player of the Month Awards on Friday May 5.
The PCA MVP Rankings system was introduced in 2007, an innovation which provides a more rigorous analysis of player performances than traditional batting and bowling averages.
The rankings were 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.
The formula also takes into account conditions, quality of opposition, captaincy and strike-rates as well as runs scored and wickets taken with the player who tops the overall PCA MVP Rankings at the end of the season, receiving a £10,000 prize and a trophy.
Stevens has been one of the most consistent performers in county cricket since the rankings were introduced and in a week in which he celebrated his 41st birthday, Stevens overtook Middlesex seamer Tim Murtagh to become the all-time leader in the PCA MVP Rankings for the Specsavers County Championship.
He also replaced Coad as leader of this season’s MVP with key contributions to Kent’s wins over Gloucestershire, Sussex and Derbyshire in Division Two of the Championship.
Stevens has scored a half century and taken five wickets in an innings in each of those matches and was also in form in Kent’s Royal London One-Day Cup opener against Hampshire at Canterbury last Thursday with another half century.
Norwell has also been in outstanding form with the ball this season with four five-wicket hauls in the second tier of the Championship including a career match-best of 10 for 122 to set up victory over Leicestershire.
Norwell, 25, finished the month strongly in the 50-over competition with five for 23 to help Gloucestershire beat Middlesex at Lord’s, a performance that netted him 32 MVP points and moved him into second place in the rankings table, 19 points adrift of Stevens.
Ballance has taken over as Yorkshire captain this season but the additional responsibilities do not appear to have affected the form of the England left-hander.
Ballance made three centuries, including a match-saving unbeaten double hundred in the draw against Hampshire last week, plus two half centuries in Division One of the Championship in April and ended the opening month with 120 rankings points.
Coad, who made his Yorkshire debut in 2013, has waited patiently for a regular first team chance and, with injuries depriving Yorkshire of frontline seamers in the first month of the season, he has made the most of his opportunity.
The 23-year-old from Ripon began the season with eight wickets against Hampshire in only the second County Championship match of his career, which included taking a career-best best six for 37 in the first innings.
Coad took the first six Hampshire wickets which increased his MVP Rankings points haul. Bowlers gain more rankings points if they take wickets of top order batsmen and similarly, runs gain more points if they are scored quickly or in low-scoring contests.
Coad followed up with a maiden 10-wicket match haul against Warwickshire and ended April with 118 MVP points and on the shortlist for the PCA Player of the Month Award, despite sitting out Yorkshire’s opening match in the Royal London One Day Cup.
To view the full Most Valuable Player Rankings click here.