Cook accepts North/South invite after resurrection
WE may only be two months into the season but eight players have confirmed their place in next year’s North v South series.
With the conclusion of the One-Day Cup group stage, the top four Englandqualified players in the PCA MVP rankings from both the North and South groups will be offered places in next year’s series.
Former Three Lions captain Alastair Cook has confirmed his invitation in the South side, scoring 503 runs in eight innings for Essex, at an average of over 70. Cook, who made the last of his 92 ODI appearances in December 2014, made a century, his first in List A cricket for five years, against Gloucestershire and followed up with another against Sussex.
Once again the Professional Cricketers’ Association’s MVP Rankings rankings have been used to determine the places in each of the squads and joining Cook in the South ranks will be Essex teammate Ravi Bopara.
Hampshire captain James Vince, who led the South to their 3-0 triumph in March, has also qualified automatically along with Kent’s England Lions opener Daniel Bell-Drummond.
In the North, Yorkshire captain Gary Ballance has earned an automatic invitation through his consistent performances in the qualifying stages of the One-Day Cup.
Ballance became the first batsman in county cricket to pass 1,000 runs for 2017 in all cricket with the innings of 71 from 66 balls at Headingley this week which helped the Vikings secure a home play-off on June 13 – leaving them two more wins from a place in the final at Lord’s on July 1.
Those runs lifted Ballance to 11th in the PCA MVP Rankings, making him the fourth highest-placed England-qualified player from the North Group.
Derbyshire Falcons all-rounder Shiv Thakor climbed to second in the rankings, behind Glamorgan’s South African import Colin Ingram, with a half century in their last group game against Worcestershire Rapids so Thakor claims an invitation too.
Keaton Jennings, who captained the North in the inaugural series, is the next best from the North Group, meaning he is in line for the opportunity to lead the bid to make amends – although his availability may depend on England’s Test schedule next spring, as the dates and venues of the 2018 NorthSouth Series have still to be confirmed.
Warwickshire batsman Sam Hain has also earned the chance to make a second appearance in the series having earned 103 rankings points.
The PCA MVP Rankings system identifies the matchwinners 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.
The North-South matches will again be watched closely by the England selectors in their planning for the 2019 ICC World Cup. The 13-man squads will be finalised at the end of the season with dates and venues to be confirmed.