Hampshire skipper James Vince wins 2022 Vitality Blast Player of the Year award

The Hampshire Hawks captain led his team to the Vitality Blast silverware and ended the tournament as the leading run scorer.

Vince was presented with the award - which brings with it a £2,500 cash prize - following last night’s dramatic final win at Edgbaston.

Hampshire beat Lancashire by one-run in an epic final game to win the trophy for a third time.

The Player of the Year is selected by the PCA Most Valuable Player Rankings, with the 31-year-old Vince high up in the table for much of the tournament.

The formula enables players to score or lose MVP points on every ball based on their expected performance for that ball in comparison to CricViz’s extensive historical database of 20-over fixtures, with the venue being played at also taken into account.

Topping the run scoring with an incredible 678 runs with an average of 48 at a strike-rate of 146, Vince is certainly a worthy winner, securing 241 points on the Vitality Blast MVP table.

Only once in a Blast season has a batter scored more than 678 runs - and that was Vince himself in 2015 when he compiled 708!

The Hampshire opener scored two hundreds and three fifties in this year’s competition, earning him three Match MVP awards in the process.

The first of his hundreds came against Kent which earnt him 38 MVP points and the second century of his campaign was the highest score in the Vitality Blast this season with 129 not out against Somerset at Taunton which won him 40 MVP points.

Vince said: ‘The final was a great game of cricket, a few things were getting in the way but eventually we got there. After the first four games we’ve been immense, I owe a lot to the guys for their efforts.

‘Our bowling attack has been top draw during the competition and we took wickets at the right times.

‘We have a never say die attitude and we never feel like we’re beaten.

‘It’s not just about me because everyone has made contributions this year.”

Vince’s former Hampshire colleague - Rilee Rossouw - was 11 points behind on 230. The Somerset batter scored 623 runs at an incredible strike-rate of 192.

Rossouw won four Match MVP awards, the most impressive coming against Derbyshire in the quarter-final where he scored 93 off 36 balls with seven sixes at a strike-rate of 258.

However he couldn’t quite get his team to the final as they were beaten by Hampshire in the second semi.

Another Blast winner finished third on the Vitality Blast MVP standings with James Fuller scoring 229 points.

The all-rounder scored 290 runs in the competition with a strike-rate of 149, as well as taking 23 wickets with best figures of 4-17.

Fuller also won three Match MVP awards, one of which came against Gloucestershire where he picked up 2-23 and scored 22 off 14 balls.

Yorkshire’s Adam Lyth finished fourth in the Vitality Blast MVP table, gaining 197 points. He scored 525 runs at an average of 35 with a strike-rate of 177.