Patel hot on Stevens' heels

Jeetan Patel’s figures of 4-25 in Saturday’s Royal London One-Day Cup final have seen him close to within a point of Darren Stevens at the top of the MVP rankings ahead of 2014’s final LV= County Championship matches this week.

Patel became the first man this season to break the 100-wicket barrier across all forms and has finished both the NatWest T20 Blast and the Royal London Cup as leading wicket-taker.

His Warwickshire side entertain cup winners Durham in a battle which will decide second place in the championship while Stevens will also be at home as Kent take on Gloucestershire.

The Kent all-rounder’s lead has been steadily eroding in recent weeks and last week saw him take just six points from Kent’s championship game against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl.

Stevens is hampered by the 20% reduction in points for Division Two performances and will have to dig deep if he is to hold off Patel. Last season Moeen Ali and Nottinghamshire’s Samit Patel enjoyed a similar duel, with Moeen triumphing, and this year there is even more at stake with the prize for the winner having been increased to £10,000.

The RLC FTI MVP was won by Paul Collingwood. The Durham club captain was one of three triumphant players to finish in the top 10 (Ben Stokes and Mark Stoneman finished third and ninth respectively). Collingwood scored 427 runs at better than a run a ball and took 14 wickets with an economy rate of 3.94, the best of any bowler who sent down more than 20 overs.

It was a good week for Durham in the championship, too, with Chris Rushworth earning the biggest points haul of the season – and the ninth-best since the rankings began – courtesy of 15-95 from 20 overs against Northamptonshire at the Emirates Durham ICG.

Rushworth took 9-52 and 6-43 in an afternoon session of mayhem to earn 70.71 points. Martin van Jaarsveld’s 80-point match against Surrey in 2008 remains the performance to beat – the Kent man scoring 114 and 115 either side of taking 5-33.

Rushworth has now taken 80 wickets across all forms, moving joint-fourth in this season’s leading wicket-takers list.

The leading run-scorers, wicket-takers, keepers and U23s are listed below the overall table.

OVERALL COUNTY FTI MVP

LEADING RUN-SCORERS 2014

LEADING WICKET-TAKERS 2014

LEADING KEEPERS 2014: Dismissals (catches, stumpings)

LEADING ALL-ROUNDERS 2014: Runs/Wks (rankings’ position in each comp)

LEADING YOUNG PLAYERS (Runs/Wks) - U23  as at 1^st April 2014