Van Jaarsveld on the verge

Martin van Jaarsveld is not likely to be beaten with three weeks of the season left

We are into the home straight in this year's MVP and barring pulling a metaphorical hamstring Kent's Martin van Jaarsveld looks like he will win with plenty to spare.

The South African is 63 points clear of his compatriot and county colleague Ryan McLaren in second and refutes any notion that his run-out of McLaren at Scarborough had anything to do with maintaining the distance between them in the MVP.

With Tim Bresnan, Ravi Bopara and Samit Patel, who lie third, fourth and fifth respectively away with England for another week, it looks like being a two-horse race unless Marcus Trescothick, in sixth, can finish fast.

Van Jaarsveld plundered 180 runs against Yorkshire including a first-innings century, his eighth of the season and fourth in the LV County Championship.

He is ranked first in the LVCC MVP, 23 points clear of James Tomlinson, who took his fourth five-wicket haul of the season to help Hampshire triumph over title contenders Durham. The left-arm swing bowler has a tally of 59 wickets in the championship.

The NatWest Pro40 MVP looks like being another two-horse race with Trescothick hot on the heels of leader Steven Davies. The Worcestershire wicketkeeper has an impressive 389 runs from just five games including two centuries and a 90. His overall strike-rate in the competition is 135 and he has scored more than a third of his team's runs.

Trescothick has been no slouch either with 548 runs from seven matches, also hitting two centuries and a 90.

His strike-rate is 131 and he has scored over 31 per cent of Somerset's runs. The former England opener is the leading run-scorer across all cricket with 2,080 runs.

Other players to look out for are Dimitri Mascarenhas, who has re-entered the overall top 10 at number eight courtesy of a five-wicket haul against Durham; Robert Joseph, who storms into the LVCC MVP top 10 at number seven having taken 20 wickets in his last three matches; and Liam Dawson of Hampshire, whose 3-19 against Durham propels him to fourth in the Pro40 MVP.

Leading run-scorers
Marcus Trescothick (2,080 runs)
Martin van Jaarsveld (2,003 runs)
Jacques Rudolph (1,966 runs)
HD Ackerman (1,832 runs)
Jonathan Trott (1,811 runs)
Ravi Bopara (1,760 runs - 129 for England)
Joe Denly (1,725 runs)
Murray Goodwin (1,692 runs)
Vikram Solanki (1,670 runs)
Mark Ramprakash (1,548 runs)

Leading wicket-takers
Steve Harmison (89 wickets - nine for England)
Tim Murtagh (85 wickets)
Kabir Ali (80 wickets)
Yasir Arafat (77 wickets)
Ryan McLaren (74 wickets)
Charl Langeveldt (74 wickets)
Tim Bresnan (71 wickets)
Danish Kaneria (71 wickets)
David Masters (69 wickets)
Charlie Shreck (66 wickets)