The South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) congratulates Jon Jon Smuts on winning the 2017/18 SACA MVP (Most Valuable Player) for domestic Franchise Cricket.
The SACA MVP formula calculates player on-field performances, in domestic competitions, taking into account batting, bowling, fielding dismissals and captaining abilities and weighting these in each performance according to the context of the match. The formula is similar to that used by other players associations around the world.
Smuts finished the season on 479.387 points in the overall rankings, 66.974 points ahead of 2017/18 Hollywoodbets all-rounder, Senuran Muthusamy.
Despite spending time away from the domestic competitions following his Proteas call-up for the T20 Series against India, Smuts managed to hold onto his lead at the top of the overall rankings after a stellar season in all three formats.
In addition to winning the SACA MVP, the Warriors captain picked up the top ranking spot in the Momentum One-Day Cup rankings with 154.310 points. He finished third in the Sunfoil Series rankings with 207.482 points and second in the Ram Slam T20 rankings with 117.596 points.
World Sports Betting Cape Cobras captain JP Duminy dominated the Ram Slam T20 rankings early on in the competition and finished with 122.425 points having scored 356 runs, only five runs behind tournament-leading run scorer Reeza Hendricks. It was Duminy’s record-breaking 37 off one over against the VKB Knights in Cape Town which sealed his position at the top of the Ram Slam T20 rankings.
Sunfoil Series winner, Simon Harmer, also enjoyed a consistent and steady climb up the overall rankings this season. The Warriors off-spinner picked up his 20th career five-wicket haul against the VKB Knights in East London to take the lead and finish with 292.399 points in the Sunfoil Series rankings. As the only bowler with four five-wicket hauls and a ten-for in the domestic season, Harmer was a clear winner.
“It’s a great feeling to win the SACA MVP,” said Smuts. “The changes in rankings are followed by franchise players after each round of matches and it’s a good indicator of form and on-field performance as it takes into account key aspects of a match and all disciplines of the game.”
“Congratulations to Jon Jon for winning the SACA MVP this year, and also for finishing first in the Momentum One-Day Cup rankings for the second year in a row”, said Tony Irish, SACA’s chief executive. “To win overall a player has to perform for his franchise in just about every round of matches and in all three of CSA’s domestic competitions through the season.”
“I’d also like to congratulate JP Duminy and Simon Harmer on leading the way in the Ram Slam T20 and the Sunfoil Series respectively. It has been another year of exciting franchise cricket with records being broken, matches and competitions going down to the wire and some outstanding performances from established players and from young players.”