Glamorgan batsman Kiran Carlson ended a memorable week by netting 23 points in the Professional Cricketers’ Association Most Valuable Player Rankings for his contribution to victory over Second Division champions Essex in the Specsavers County Championship at Chelmsford.
Carlson, 18, became Glamorgan’s youngest-ever first-class century-maker when he led the Welsh county’s first day fightback with his maiden first-class hundred. He beat Glamorgan’s previous record set by Mike Llewellyn against Cambridge University in 1972.
Carlson, who bagged a pair in the previous match against Gloucestershire, scored 41 per cent of Glamorgan’s first innings runs at Chelmsford which gave him 22 PCA MVP points towards his match haul.
His rankings points total against Essex bettered Carlson’s previous PCA MVP best of 21 points on his debut against Northamptonshire earlier this month when he took five wickets in the first innings.
All-rounder Graham Wagg remains Glamorgan’s highest-placed player in the overall PCA MVP in 27th position on 348 points. Wagg is 28th in the Specsavers County Championship PCA MVP with 220 points.
The PCA MVP was introduced in 2007 and is designed by the players to find the cricketers who really win matches by combining all aspects of a player’s performance to give a ranking in relation to his peers.
The MVP formula gives full credit to those players whose performances improve their team’s chances of winning. Points are accrued for all runs scored and wickets taken; these are then adjusted within the context of the match to take into account strike rates and economy rates.
Runs gain more points if they are scored quickly or in low-scoring contests. Top order wickets taken at the start of the innings are judged more valuable than those that fall later, and bowlers who bowl their overs cheaply (in the context of the match) are given due reward for doing so.
The weightings in the revised formula have been scaled so as to provide continuity with previous seasons, ensuring that the value of an MVP point this year is equivalent to those allocated under previous formulae.
The PCA MVP leader board can be viewed