PCA Team of the Year
Nine Durham wins and no Durham name in the PCA Team of the Year
Durham won nine of their 14 Championship matches this summer, lost none, and took the Division Two title by a distance. When the Professional Cricketers’ Association named its Men’s Team of the Year on 28 September, not one Durham player was in it.
The PCA picks its side from its MVP rankings across every domestic competition: the Championship, the One-Day Cup, the Blast and the Hundred. It says it chose “the best-balanced side rather than simply the highest-ranked players”, with Essex’s Matt Critchley and Warwickshire’s Rob Yates the unlucky ones.
Our own ranking covers the same four competitions and this season alone, and it counts a Blast or Hundred match as much as a Championship one. At the top it agrees with the PCA, with Craig Overton first and Joe Clarke second. Five of the PCA’s eleven are in our top eleven. The other six are not.
- 1Paul WalterEssex · BatterChampionship: 626 runs at 24.1
Blast: 382 runs, strike rate 158
Hundred: 247 runs, strike rate 17946th+323 runs - 2Ricardo VasconcelosNorthamptonshire · BatterChampionship: 1,159 runs at 48.3
One-Day Cup: 176 runs, strike rate 83
Blast: 439 runs, strike rate 14428th+416 runs - 3Kiran CarlsonGlamorgan · BatterChampionship: 942 runs at 37.7, 5 wickets at 38.4
Blast: 405 runs, strike rate 19617th+602 runs - 4Joe ClarkeNottinghamshire · WicketkeeperChampionship: 1,288 runs at 56.0
Blast: 304 runs, strike rate 138
Hundred: 291 runs, strike rate 1492nd+839 runs - 5Dan LawrenceSurrey · BatterChampionship: 982 runs at 65.5, 10 wickets at 80.3
Blast: 240 runs, strike rate 148, 9 wickets, economy 7.0
Hundred: 134 runs, strike rate 16515th+612 runs - 6Martin AnderssonDerbyshire · All-rounderChampionship: 877 runs at 39.9, 23 wickets at 31.0
One-Day Cup: 468 runs, strike rate 89, 6 wickets, economy 5.8
Blast: 398 runs, strike rate 149, 11 wickets, economy 9.624th+470 runs - 7George HillYorkshire · All-rounderChampionship: 748 runs at 34.0, 48 wickets at 18.4
One-Day Cup: 199 runs, strike rate 108, 15 wickets, economy 4.58th+687 runs - 8Craig OvertonSomerset · All-rounder · CaptainChampionship: 734 runs at 38.6, 53 wickets at 19.2
Blast: 182 runs, strike rate 173, 15 wickets, economy 8.4
Hundred: 8 wickets, economy 7.91st+920 runs - 9Liam Patterson-WhiteNottinghamshire · SpinnerChampionship: 474 runs at 24.9, 42 wickets at 25.1
One-Day Cup: 5 wickets, economy 5.1
Blast: 12 wickets, economy 7.355th+289 runs - 10Ethan BamberWarwickshire · BowlerChampionship: 212 runs at 16.3, 69 wickets at 19.4
One-Day Cup: 109 runs, strike rate 93, 8 wickets, economy 4.610th+642 runs - 11Kyle AbbottHampshire · BowlerChampionship: 216 runs at 11.4, 64 wickets at 16.2
One-Day Cup: 6 wickets, economy 5.07th+721 runs
Where the PCA got it right
Overton was the summer’s most valuable player by any measure. He took 53 Championship wickets at 19.2 for Somerset, made 734 runs, and hit 182 Blast runs at a strike rate of 173, including an unbeaten 79 in the quarter-final. The PCA made him captain, and he tops their MVP too.
Clarke made 1,288 Championship runs at 56.0, the most in Division One, and 291 more in the Hundred for Birmingham Phoenix. The PCA gave him the gloves on the strength of that Hundred campaign. In the Championship Kyle Verreynne kept wicket for Nottinghamshire and Clarke played as a batter, but in a side picked from every competition, keeping wicket in the Hundred counts.
Kyle Abbott (7th) took 64 Championship wickets at 16.2 for a Hampshire side that won two games and went down. George Hill (8th) took 48 at 18.4 for Yorkshire and 15 more in the One-Day Cup. Ethan Bamber (10th) led Division One with 69 wickets for the champions, Warwickshire, and bowled 445 overs, more than anyone else in the top division. The PCA’s seam attack is our seam attack.
A white-ball place, and the wrong man in it
Paul Walter ranks 46th. His case is his white-ball summer: 247 runs in five Hundred innings at a strike rate of 179 on the way to winning the Hundred with Manchester Super Giants, and 382 in the Blast. In the Championship he averaged 24.1 for Essex, three runs below the 27.2 that everyone else made in the same matches, so all of his value came from those white-ball games, and there wasn’t enough of it.
If the side is to keep a place for a white-ball specialist, it belongs to Aneurin Donald. He made 489 runs for Derbyshire in the Blast at a strike rate of 231, when the competition as a whole scored at 141, and kept wicket in the Blast. Then he made 137 in the Hundred at 217. He played one Championship match all summer and still ranks sixth.
The four-day batters the XI missed
Sam Hain (4th) made 1,048 Championship runs at 74.9 for the champions, when everyone else in his matches averaged 26.0. Tom Abell (5th) made 1,287 at 71.5 for Somerset, who finished second. Tom Lammonby (9th), Abell’s Somerset teammate, added 547 One-Day Cup runs to 876 in the Championship at 46.1.
David Bedingham (12th) had 1,029 runs at 73.5 for Durham when they sealed promotion, and Mayank Agarwal replaced him for the rest of the season. Runs in Division Two come against weaker attacks. Batters who played in both divisions in consecutive seasons since 2022 averaged 37.8 in Division Two and 29.8 in Division One, so a Division Two run is worth about four-fifths of one in the top flight, and our ranking discounts them that way. Take a fifth off Bedingham’s average and it’s still 58.8. Among Division One batters with 600 runs, only Hain, Abell and Lawrence averaged more.
The same discount falls on the PCA’s two Division Two picks. Martin Andersson ranks 24th, with 877 Championship runs and 23 wickets for Derbyshire, and 468 runs in the One-Day Cup. Ricardo Vasconcelos ranks 28th. His 1,159 runs at 48.3 led Division Two, and he won the Blast with Northamptonshire, but a fifth off his average leaves him well behind the batters who came in.
The PCA’s closest calls are Dan Lawrence (15th) and Kiran Carlson (17th), just outside our side. Lawrence averaged 65.5 in the Championship for Surrey. Carlson made a double hundred for Glamorgan and scored 405 Blast runs at a strike rate of 196, the best of any batter in the PCA side.
Durham’s two
Ben Raine (3rd) took 47 Championship wickets at 20.1 in ten matches for Durham, then 17 more in the Blast. Matthew Potts took 60 Championship wickets, the most in Division Two, and ranks 16th. With Bedingham, Durham get two players in ours.
Kent’s Matt Milnes finished 11th, three runs ahead of Bedingham over the whole summer, after 54 Championship wickets and 26 more in the white-ball competitions. With Overton batting at seven, the side needs a sixth batter more than a fifth seamer, so Bedingham takes the place.
A seamers’ summer
Our XI has no spinner. Liam Patterson-White, the MVP’s leading spinner, took 42 Championship wickets at 25.1 and ranks 55th. Jack Leach ranks 36th. Eleven bowlers took 40 Championship wickets in Division One, and Patterson-White was the only spinner among them. The PCA wanted a spinner for balance. This summer’s results didn’t earn one a place.
- 1Tom LammonbySomerset · Batter · in for Ricardo VasconcelosChampionship: 876 runs at 46.1, 6 wickets at 16.7
One-Day Cup: 547 runs, strike rate 989th+669 runs - 2Aneurin DonaldDerbyshire · Batter · in for Paul WalterBlast: 489 runs, strike rate 231
Hundred: 137 runs, strike rate 2176th+723 runs - 3Tom AbellSomerset · Batter · in for Kiran CarlsonChampionship: 1,287 runs at 71.55th+785 runs
- 4Sam HainWarwickshire · Batter · in for Dan LawrenceChampionship: 1,048 runs at 74.9
Blast: 306 runs, strike rate 1404th+825 runs - 5Joe ClarkeNottinghamshire · WicketkeeperChampionship: 1,288 runs at 56.0
Blast: 304 runs, strike rate 138
Hundred: 291 runs, strike rate 1492nd+839 runs - 6David BedinghamDurham · Batter · in for Martin AnderssonChampionship: 1,029 runs at 73.5
One-Day Cup: 181 runs, strike rate 101
Blast: 135 runs, strike rate 13112th+630 runs - 7Craig OvertonSomerset · All-rounder · CaptainChampionship: 734 runs at 38.6, 53 wickets at 19.2
Blast: 182 runs, strike rate 173, 15 wickets, economy 8.4
Hundred: 8 wickets, economy 7.91st+920 runs - 8George HillYorkshire · All-rounderChampionship: 748 runs at 34.0, 48 wickets at 18.4
One-Day Cup: 199 runs, strike rate 108, 15 wickets, economy 4.58th+687 runs - 9Ben RaineDurham · Bowler · in for Liam Patterson-WhiteChampionship: 427 runs at 35.6, 47 wickets at 20.1
Blast: 17 wickets, economy 6.93rd+838 runs - 10Ethan BamberWarwickshire · BowlerChampionship: 212 runs at 16.3, 69 wickets at 19.4
One-Day Cup: 109 runs, strike rate 93, 8 wickets, economy 4.610th+642 runs - 11Kyle AbbottHampshire · BowlerChampionship: 216 runs at 11.4, 64 wickets at 16.2
One-Day Cup: 6 wickets, economy 5.07th+721 runs
Five of the PCA’s eleven stay: Overton, Clarke, Hill, Bamber and Abbott. The white-ball place goes to the better white-ball batter. Three Championship batters who averaged over 70 come in, and so do the unbeaten champions of Division Two.