Craig Overton reigns supreme with Overall and Rothesay MVP awards
An incredible year has seen Craig Overton soar to the top of the PCA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Rankings, powered by OFX, to claim both the PCA Men’s Domestic Overall MVP and Rothesay County Championship Player of the Year.
The 32-year-old has scored 951 runs, taken 76 wickets and 45 catches across all three formats this season, amassing 680.08 MVP points in a year of genuine all-round performances.
Revolutionising his game with the bat, Overton has scored three First-Class centuries in 2026, having begun this season with just one in his career. The Somerset man won Player of the Month an unprecedented three times, featured in four of the five PCA Team of the Months so far and has seven Match MVPs to his name.
Another accolade in Overton’s prolific season is the Rothesay County Championship Player of the Year, as he finished the red-ball standings with 413.98 points.
The longer format has seen the seamer accrue 734 runs, 53 wickets and 21 catches in 13 games.
Overton’s first Player of the Month award came in April, claiming eight wickets and 253 runs, including a match-winning 141 against Essex that brought his season-high Match MVP total of 55.61. The all-rounder also captained Somerset during the month, standing in for an injured Lewis Gregory.
In June, the seamer took 12 wickets at an average of 20.66, backed up by 205 runs that included another century. He began to prove his class in the shorter formats too, winning a Match MVP in the Vitality Blast with 21.33 MVP points, contributing to his 130.18 points for the month.
Going back-to-back with another Player of the Month success in July, Overton amassed 145.69 points, with performances in the Vitality Blast and The Hundred helping him to his most prolific month of the year. One of the highlights of his season came in the Blast quarter-final, where he struck 79 from just 30 balls to recover Somerset from a dire position and launch them into Finals Day with a win against Yorkshire.
The all-rounder’s fielding was also a key strength, as he took 45 catches in all formats, earning 90 fielding points from all positions on the pitch.
Overton becomes the first Somerset player to win either the Overall or Championship MVP since the MVP system was re-launched in 2021. One of his five Match MVPs in the red-ball game came against Sussex, where match figures of 5-37 and 111 from 137 balls with the bat earned him 53.84 points.
Overton showed versatility with the bat too. Against eventual champions Warwickshire, his 111 off 232 balls helped Somerset rescue a draw and earned him 41.75 MVP points.
Match figures of 7-56 against Leicestershire and 5-92 against Glamorgan earned him his fourth and fifth Match MVP, as he scored 38.24 and 34.51 points respectively in two more match-winning performances.
On winning his awards, Overton said: “It feels pretty good to win an award like this. It’s a sign that I’ve had a good season and contributed to winning games for Somerset and for the Rockets as well.
“It’s been a great summer and it’s just nice to contribute and be able to put in performances over the whole summer.
“This award just demonstrates that we’ve got a great team here and that everyone’s contributing to being able to win games.
“Luckily, I’ve been in the right spot to do what I need to do at the right time.”
The PCA’s MVP system compares player performances against expected outcomes for each match, adjusting for venue conditions using CricViz data. The result is a ball-by-ball ranking designed to reflect true performance.
Overton ends the year ahead of Yorkshire’s George Hill, who finishes second in both the Overall and Championship standings, with 517.01 and 379.57 points in each table.
Hill has been integral to Yorkshire’s strong fifth place finish in Division One this year, taking 67 wickets and scoring 966 runs across formats. Averaging 19.54 with the ball, he has claimed four Championship Match MVPs and one in the Metro Bank One Day Cup.
In the Metro Bank One Day Cup, the 25-year-old scored 199 runs at an average of 49.75, including two fifties. Against Derbyshire, he took 2-46 from his 10 overs and scored 63 from 49, helping Yorkshire successfully chase down the opposition total.
In the Championship, the Yorkshireman has 748 runs and 48 wickets at an average of 18.39. Six half-centuries and two five-wicket hauls are fruitful returns for the all-rounder who continues to improve and impress in the red-ball game.
Martin Andersson is in third place for the Men’s Domestic Overall Rankings with 482.48 MVP points from an impressive season.
The Derbyshire all-rounder’s explosive year has seen him smash 1,734 runs, including five hundreds and nine half-centuries. He has contributed with ball-in-hand too, taking 40 wickets across formats.
His highest score of the season came against Worcestershire, where he built a masterful innings of 228 from 271 balls, a new career-best for the 30-year-old.
In the Blast, he took 6-23, scored 57 from 29 balls and took two catches in the same game against Leicestershire, earning an incredible 60.03 points.
Third in the Championship standings is Division One champion Ethan Bamber on 334.97 points, who also tops the wicket-taking charts in the red-ball game with 69 top-flight wickets.
The seamer has four five-wicket hauls and two four-wicket hauls to his name this year, including 6-26 against Essex.
He has earned three Match MVPs, one of which came in Warwickshire’s title-sealing win against Leicestershire. That the 27-year-old has led a Bears attack featuring Chris Woakes and Olly Hannon-Dalby is testament to the skill and maturity of his performances in 2026.
View the final County Championship and Men’s Domestic MVP Rankings here.
