ICC announces Men's and Women's Player of the Month nominees for August 2024
The ICC announced the three nominees for August's Men's Player of the Month on September 5. The list was mainly rewarding for bowlers with South Africa's Keshav Maharaj, West Indian Jayden Seales, and Sri Lanka's Dunith Wellalage making the cut.
While the first two were nominated for their heroics in the South Africa-West Indies two-match Test series, Wellalage's stemmed from his stellar performances in the India ODI series.
Maharaj was the leading wicket-taker with 13 scalps in the two Tests at an average of 16.07, including two four-wicket hauls. After eight wickets in the drawn first Test, the 34-year-old bagged five scalps in the second Test to help the Proteas pull off a 1-0 series win.
The left-arm spinner will also be gunning for his second Player of the Month award, having won in April 2022.
Maharaj's guile in spin-bowling was matched by Jayden Seales as far as pace is concerned during the thrilling South Africa-West Indies Test series. The 22-year-old thrilled the home fans with his incisive spells, finishing with 12 wickets at an average of 18.08 with career-best figures of 6/61 in the second innings of the second Test.
Seales' teammates Shamar Joseph and Gudakesh Motie have already bagged Player of the Month honors this year.
The white-ball hero of August was undoubtedly Sri Lanka's left-arm spinning all-rounder Dunith Wellalage. The 21-year-old wrecked India's batting lineup with decisive spells to finish with seven wickets to help Sri Lanka pull off an improbable 2-0 series win.
Wellalage was crucial in resurrecting Sri Lanka's batting innings in the first two ODIs with a 67* and 39, averaging 54 for the three matches.
His career-best figures of 5/27 in the third ODI included the key scalps of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer.
ICC Women's Player of the Month nominees also announced
The ICC also announced the Women's Player of the Month nominees - all three based on performances in the Sri Lanka-Ireland white-ball series.
Sri Lanka's Harshitha Samarawickrama continued her stellar form from the match-winning knock in the Asia Cup final against India. She scored 86* and 65 in the drawn two-match T20I series against Ireland.
The numbers skyrocketed even more in the three ODIs as the 26-year-old scored 172 runs at an average of 86, including a brilliant century in the second ODI.
The Irish pair of Orla Prendergast and Gaby Lewis took turns to help the side draw the T20I series and win the ODIs. The former scored 67 runs with two wickets in the T20Is and followed that with an incredible all-round showing in the opening ODI.
Prendergast picked up figures of 3/25 before scoring a match-winning 107-ball 122* in Ireland's stunning run-chase. She continued making telling contributions with the ball in the remainder of the series as Ireland pulled off a 2-1 win in the ODIs.
Meanwhile, Lewis was at her best in the Sri Lanka T20Is with a valuable 33-ball 39 in the first encounter and a sparkling 119 off 75 in the series-leveling second T20I. The 119 was the highest-ever score for Ireland in T20Is.