Stevens goes to MVP summit

Darren Stevens, one of the most successful players in the history of the FTI MVP rankings, has moved to the top of the 2014 table after scoring his first hundred of the summer, against Essex at Canterbury in the LV= County Championship.

Only Samit Patel (3,527) and Peter Trego (3,382) have scored more than Stevens' 3,323 MVP points since the rankings began back in 2007 and the Kent man has finished in the top three in each of the last three seasons.

Stevens has taken a particular shine to Essex, who always seem to provide him with a bumper points-haul. His extraordinary run against his local rivals reads: 136 in 2009, 100 in 2010, 6-60 and 3-76 at Chelmsford in 2011, 119 in 2012, 136 and 4-36 in 2013 and 105 off just 99 balls last week. That is five hundreds in six years plus a nine-wicket match haul in the only year he failed to score a hundred against them.

Stevens has scored 454 runs and taken 25 scalps across both forms this season, 362 and 19 of which have come in the championship where he is ranked third. He scores his runs at the impressive rate of 78 runs per 100 balls and concedes them at just 2.70 runs per over in championship cricket. He is ranked seventh in the Natwest T20 Blast with 92 runs and six wickets. His best performance came in Kent's opening fixture against Somerset when he scored 47 off just 20 balls and took 2-14 from three overs.

Tom Smith is another all-rounder stamping his mark on the 2014 season. Despite batting at seven or eight in Lancashire's championship order, he has scored 440 runs, which is an aggregate second only to opener Paul Horton. Smith has contributed 14% of Lancashire's runs, often entering the fray with his side in big trouble. He has scored his runs quite slowly (42 runs per 100 balls) as he has sought to rebuild his side's innings and has made five invaluable fifties. He has also taken two five-wicket hauls against Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire.

In the Blast Smith has shown the explosive side of his game, smashing 210 runs at a strike-rate of 151 runs per 100 balls including 74 off 53 balls against Worcestershire and 55 off 28 versus Yorkshire. Smith has made 22% of Lancashire's T20 runs and will be hoping to better his fourth-placed finish in 2010's T20 FTI MVP when he scored 543 runs and took 13 wickets.

Patel, who is up to third, showed the benefit of having two strings to his bow when he took four wickets and 20 FTI MVP rankings-points against Yorkshire having bagged a pair with the bat. The Nottinghamshire all-rounder was coming off 156 against Sussex but found Steve Patterson and Jack Brooks a tougher proposition at Headingley. Last year's runner-up has scored 800 runs and taken 16 wickets and will no doubt be in contention yet again to take the title of county cricket's Most Valuable Player come September.

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