All-rounder Shiv Thakor has climbed to 13th place in the Professional Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player Rankings.
Thakor was the highest-ranked England-qualified player in the rankings for the Royal London Cup and took his white ball form into the Specsavers County Championship with a century in the draw with his former county Leicestershire at Derby.
The all-rounder has been promoted to number three in the order in first-class cricket and has since scored 239 runs at an average just under 40.
Thakor said: “It’s been nice to be up there and have a bit more responsibility and I saw an opportunity to put my hand up and say I would love to have the chance and I was lucky in that Billy [Godleman] and Kim [Barnett] backed me to do that.
“Billy made it clear to me he backs me to do it and I’ve got his full support. It meant a lot for the club to give me the opportunity so it’s nice to be able to repay them.”
Thakor scored a quarter of Derbyshire’s first innings runs against Leicestershire and earned 17 rankings points for his efforts which took him to 160 for the season in all formats.
He amassed 110 of those points in a productive RLODC campaign which took Thakor to second in the competition MVP with only Colin Ingram, Glamorgan’s South African all-rounder, above him.
Thakor’s performances, which included a century against Northamptonshire and a half century against Worcestershire, have secured an invitation to play for the North in next year’s North-South Series.
The PCA MVP Rankings system identifies the match-winners and key influencers of matches throughout the domestic season.
The formula takes into account conditions, quality of opposition, captaincy and strike-rates as well as runs scored and wickets taken.
Sri Lanka leg-spinner Jeevan Mendis is Derbyshire’s next highest-ranked player in the championship MVP in 37th place with 126 points including 20 for his six for 204 in a marathon first innings stint of 52.3 overs against Leicestershire.
The latest PCA MVP Rankings can be viewed HERE.
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