Foster first keeper to win monthly FTI MVP award

James Foster has capped a series of impressive displays to become the first wicketkeeper to win the monthly award for the FTI Most Valuable Player.

Essex captain Foster was the top point scorer for June in the Professional Cricketers' Association's rankings system that compares the performances of every player on the county circuit.

His 364 runs in all competitions came off just 360 balls and accounted for almost a quarter of the total Essex scored during June. In the field he contributed by taking seven catches and four stumpings.

In the LV= County Championship draw at Northampton Foster stroked 135 runs in 230 balls, putting on nearly 300 for the fifth wicket with Ravi Bopara. Since then he has blasted two half-centuries and a 47 in the Friends Life t20, as well as picking up valuable points with the gloves.

His county coach Paul Grayson, who recently hailed him as the world's best wicketkeeper, believes he is a worthy winner of the June award.

Grayson said: "James has been outstanding for us this season and during the t20 in particular. He certainly deserves to win this award. Not only has he been fantastic with the gloves, he has provided us with a number of runs in the middle order that have boosted our totals."

Foster beat Warwickshire's Chis Woakes to the award by just over six points. Middlesex batsman Paul Stirling was third, with Dimitri Mascharenhas of Hampshire and Worcestershire's Phil Hughes filling the three other places in the top five.

But Foster isn't the only Essex player to feature prominently in the FTI MVP t20 rankings at the moment, with James Franklin, Ryan ten Doeschate, Graham Napier and Greg Smith also occupying top twenty places.
 

Date: 02/07/2012 15:51:41 by MBaldwin
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