County stars gear up for FTI MVP

County cricketers across the country will line up from Sunday in the race to be crowned the FTI Most Valuable Player 2014.

The ranking system, run by the Professional Cricketers’ Association, is now in its eighth season and comes with a £10,000 reward for the overall winner and £5,000 for the player who tops the NatWest T20 Blast table.

Worcestershire’s Moeen Ali scooped the prize last year in the most closely fought contest to date, after he held off Nottinghamshire’s Samit Patel to triumph by just four points.

The FTI MVP analyses the performances of players on a like-for-like basis with points earned for every run scored, wicket taken and catch held in all forms of the game.

Bowlers receive higher marks for good economy rates, bowling maidens and for dismissing the top order, while batsmen are rewarded for high run-rates and the percentage of the team’s runs they hit.

Last year’s overall table was dominated by all-rounders, with all but one of the top 10 performing for their team with both the bat and ball.

The exception that proved the rule was Gloucestershire’s Australian batsman Michael Klinger, who was also the only member of the 10 to pick up any captaincy points.

Apart from him and Glamorgan’s Michael Hogan, all of the top 10 were England-qualified – including Moeen and Ben Stokes, who have both gone on to receive international call-ups after posting impressive MVP scores.

LV= County Champions Durham were well represented at the top of the rankings, unsurprisingly, boasting no less than five players in the top 20: Stokes, Scott Borthwick, Graham Onions, Chris Rushworth, and Phil Mustard.

Klinger (430.30 pts) was the competition’s top overall batsman, Hogan (404.70) the top bowler, and Notts’ Chris Read (123) the top fielder.

PCA assistant chief executive Jason Ratcliffe said: “It’s an exciting time of year and everybody will have high expectations and aspirations for the season ahead. One of those aspirations will be to take Moeen’s crown and the £10k cash prize. Form can be fragile at the best of times, let alone through a long English summer and so the winner will have to maintain marathon form and avoid the pitfalls of injury to come through and take the title in September.”

The award will be supported again this year global business advisory firm FTI Consulting.

John Waples, UK head of strategic communications, FTI Consulting, said: “The start of the new cricket season is always a magical time. All players have high hopes of success and the opportunity to achieve new levels of excellence. An extra motivating factor this season is that strong performances in the county game could lead to international recognition as it did for Moeen Ali.”

As well as the extensive coverage on the PCA website, fans will also be able to get closer to the action via the FTI MVP Twitter feed - @FTI_MVP_Cricket - powered by Opta.

Overall FTI MVP 2013

Previous winners                             Points

2013    Moeen Ali                               600                 

2012    Peter Trego                             501

2011    Marcus Trescothick                597

2010    Neil Carter                              643

2009    Marcus Trescothick                632

2008    Martin Van Jaarsveld              553

2007    Ottis Gibson                            736