Smith leads Twenty20 MVP

Greg Smith celebrates his century against Yorkshire

Twenty20 fever has spread worldwide and with the sudden influx of Allen Stanford's money, in addition to the Champions League concept, there has never been more to play for as a county cricketer.

Last summer the Twenty20 MVP rankings helped catapult the eventual winner, Luke Wright, into the selectors' consciousness and it will surely become an increasingly important barometer of performance as the stakes continue to rise.

Twenty20 time is often an opportunity for county players to kickstart their season and interestingly only Anthony McGrath, who is in fifth place in the Twenty20 MVP appears on the overall top 10 leader board.

Derbyshire's Greg Smith heads the Twenty20 MVP table after compiling an impressive 217 runs at a strike rate of 1.62, which includes a century in 62 balls against Yorkshire.

Andrew Hall has been the main force behind Northamptonshire’s unbeaten start to the campaign with consistent scores of 54, 66 and 25 and bowling performances of 6-21 and 3-21. He occupies second spot.

Dwayne Smith blasted 72 not out off just 27 balls including five massive sixes against Hampshire at Hove. The West Indies batting all-rounder also returned figures of 3-14 against Surrey at the Brit Oval to help propel him into third place.

Tyrone Henderson put Essex to the sword taking 3-27 and plundering 64 not out from 30 balls as Middlesex recorded their third consecutive victory at Chelmsford. Henderson has seven wickets to date in the competition and occupies fourth spot.

McGrath has been consistency personified with scores of 55, 32 and 72 and an overall competition strike rate of 1.53. He is in fifth place in the Twenty20 MVP sneaking into 10th place in the race for the overall MVP.