Heather dominates Winter MVP

Western Storm’s Heather Knight has won the PCA Overall Women’s International Winter MVP award following the completion of the winter fixtures.

​The England captain featured in all 12 of England’s winter fixtures, which included tours to India and New Zealand. The PCA Vice Chair scored 362 runs at an average of 36.2 across all formats, earning 149 MVP points for her performances.

​Knight impressed in the shortest format of the game during the winter with 250 runs in T20 Internationals. Having made the decision to withdraw from the Women’s Premier League to captain England in New Zealand, Knight also finished top of the T20 International Winter table with 119 MVP points.

The 33-year-old secured three Match MVP awards across the winter as well as leading her country to T20 International series wins in India (2-1) and New Zealand (4-1) and an ODI series win in India (2-1).

In the final T20 International on the tour of India, Knight secured 36 MVP points for her innings of 52 from 42 balls which included three fours and three sixes to earn the Match MVP award.

The right-handed batter began the series in New Zealand in great form, securing another Match MVP for her innings of 63 from 39 balls, which included nine boundaries to gain 22 points in England’s 27-run win.

The next game against New Zealand saw another Match MVP for the England captain, earning 31 points for an unbeaten innings of 56 off 40 balls with four fours and two sixes as England won by 15 runs in Nelson.

England Vice Captain Nat Sciver-Brunt finished second on the Overall Winter MVP table with 140 points, alongside finishing top of the Test rankings.

The 31-year-old scored 253 runs at an average of 31.6, alongside taking 10 wickets at 22.2 a-piece during the winter fixtures.

Sciver-Brunt picked up two Match MVP awards, the first coming in the solitary Test against India where she secured 29 points for her 59 and 1-25.

The all-rounder exemplified her abilities with another Match MVP performance against New Zealand, scoring 31 off 27 and taking 2-24 with the ball, securing 24 points in the final T20 International as England won by five wickets.

The awards were selected by the PCA Most Valuable Player Rankings, powered by Argentex. The formula takes into account expected performance on every ball according to CricViz’s extensive database. The algorithm also considers the historic performances of the venue each fixture is being played at, therefore giving a more accurate reflection of the top performers in the game than traditional batting and bowling averages do.

Amy Jones finished top of the ODI rankings thanks to a phenomenal series against New Zealand, earning 51 points from just three games.

The 30-year-old scored 190 ODI runs at an average of 95, alongside taking four catches and a stumping.

The England wicketkeeper picked up the Match MVP award in the first ODI securing 24 points for her incredible unbeaten knock of 92 off 83 balls, including 10 boundaries, in a record breaking seventh-wicket 130-run partnership with Charlie Dean as England won by four wickets.

Dean enjoyed an impressive winter herself finishing third in the Winter Overall rankings with 113 MVP points.

The 23-year-old took 19 overseas wickets at an average of 24.3, whilst proving her all-rounder capabilities, adding 134 lower-order runs at 26.8 per dismissal.

The Southern Vipers off-spinner took 10 T20 International wickets at an impressive average of 16.8 to take her up to second on the ICC T20 International bowling rankings, with just teammate Sophie Ecclestone ahead of her.

View the Overall Women’s International Winter MVP final standings here.