All-rounder Matt Critchley has been selected in The 2021 IG PCA Men’s Team of the Year, after an impressive season for Derbyshire.
The 25-year-old was one of only five played to reach 1,000 LV= County Championship runs this season, while his exploits with bat and ball for Derbyshire, as well as Welsh Fire in The Hundred, saw him earn the second-most PCA MVP points (508), behind only Simon Harmer of Essex.
Critchley claimed the April PCA Player of the Month award, after a stellar start to the season, including one century and four half-centuries in his first six first-class innings. His tally of nine scores above 50 in the LV= County Championship was the joint-most in 2021, while his haul of 32 red-ball wickets put him second in Derbyshire’s charts, behind Ben Aitchison (34).
The all-rounder’s impressive performances were not limited to the County Championship, however, as he smashed an unbeaten 80 from just 45 balls to beat Leicestershire in the Vitality Blast, a competition he would later captain Derbyshire in four times, winning twice. He finished the campaign with 1,285 runs and 48 wickets in all competitions.
The selection caps off a good fortnight for Critchley, who was named in Wisden’s County Championship Team of the Year, prior to winning Derbyshire’s County Championship and overall Player of the Year awards.
The IG PCA Men’s Team of the Year, each of whom will receive a personalised winner’s medal, was selected via the PCA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Rankings, with a new statistical algorithm producing the Overall MVP table in 2021.
Full 2021 IG PCA Men’s Team of the Year:
Jake Libby (Worcestershire)
Tom Haines (Sussex)
Ricardo Vasconcelos (wk) (Northamptonshire)
David Bedingham (Durham)
Harry Brook (Yorkshire)
Matt Critchley (Derbyshire)
Darren Stevens (Kent)
Simon Harmer (c) (Essex)
Craig Overton (Somerset)
Luke Fletcher (Nottinghamshire)
Sam Cook (Essex)
