Pakistan pacer named ICC Men's Player of the Month for November 2024
Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf capped off a spectacular November by winning the ICC Men's Player of the Month award. The 31-year-old fought off competition from India's Jasprit Bumrah and South Africa's Marco Jansen for the monthly honors.
Rauf was the star in Pakistan's long-awaited ODI series win in Australia, a feat achieved by the Men in Green after 22 years. The speedster picked up three key wickets in the opening ODI to almost help Pakistan a miraculous win despite the effort ultimately going in vain.
However, his incredible 5/29 in the second ODI helped Pakistan level the three-match series at 1-1. Rauf followed that with another excellent showing in the decider, finishing with 2/24 as Pakistan pulled off the series win.
The fiery pacer continued his hot streak in the subsequent T20I series against Australia, picking up five wickets despite Pakistan's 0-3 drubbing.
Haris Rauf capped off an excellent November with three wickets in the ODI series against Zimbabwe as Pakistan emerged victorious 2-1. Overall, the Pakistan pacer finished the month with 18 wickets in nine white-ball outings, including a Player-of-the-Series performance in the historic Australia ODI series win.
England veteran bags ICC Women's Player of the Month honors
England's veteran batter Danni Wyatt-Hodge won the ICC Women's Player of the Month honors for her incredible showing in the T20I series against South Africa.
After missing out in the opening T20I, the 33-year-old scored back-to-back half-centuries to help England pull off a 3-0 series whitewash in South Africa.
Wyatt-Hodge was delighted to receive the prestigious award and thanked her teammates for their constant backing.
"I am delighted and honoured to win this award. I'd like to say a big thank you to all my team-mates and coaches who I work with who encourage me every day. We had a great T20I series against South Africa where our team performed brilliantly with some great displays across the board," she told the ICC.
Wyatt-Hodge added:
"On a personal level, it’s been really pleasing to perform consistently and the aim individually and collectively as a team is to continue this as we build-up to the Ashes and another big year of cricket coming up next year."
During her heroics against South Africa, the English opener became the 10th player in Women's cricket history to achieve 3000 T20I runs and the first from England.
Wyatt-Hodge is also the second fastest to the milestone (deliveries faced) behind Australia's Alyssa Healy.
With 142 runs at an average of 71 and a strike rate of over 163 in November, Wyatt-Hodge beat competition from South Africa's Nadine de Klerk and Bangladesh's Sharmin Akhter, to win the award.