Stafanie Taylor, Shakib Al Hasan voted winners of ICC Player of the Month Awards for July 2021
Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and West Indies women’s captain Stafanie Taylor have been voted the winners of the ICC Player of the Month Awards for July 2021.
Shakib Al Hasan was named the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for July 2021 for his standout performance in all three formats. Shakib hit an unbeaten 96 to help Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by three wickets in the second ODI at the Harare Sports Club.
In the T20Is, the all-rounder claimed three wickets at an economy rate of seven as Bangladesh registered a series win over Zimbabwe. As per the latest ICC rankings, Shakib is the No. 1 all-rounder in both ODIs and T20Is.
Reacting to his win, Shakib was quoted as saying on ICC’s website:
“It is very humbling to be voted ICC Men’s Player of the Month for July 2021. There have been many outstanding performances during the month and that is why this is special for me. I find most pleasure and satisfaction when I contribute to wins and therefore, I am very happy to have helped in Bangladesh’s successes over the last few weeks.”
This is a bit surprising to me: Stafanie Taylor on winning ICC honour
West Indies all-rounder Taylor was named the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for her impressive contributions with both bat and ball as the Windies won the ODI and T20I series against Pakistan in July.
Taylor scored 175 runs in the four ODIs against Pakistan and claimed three wickets while maintaining an excellent economy rate of 3.72. She is among the top five in ICC Women’s ODI Rankings for batters and all-rounders.
Commenting on her award, Stafanie told ICC:
“This is a bit surprising to me, winning ICC Player of the Month award for July, but I’m happy. It shows that the hard work you put in, will pay off and it did, against Pakistan, to help us win that series. We played well in both formats.. I’m over in England now playing in The Hundred, which is a different kind of competition, played at a faster pace, but I’m still working hard. We’re also looking forward to the series against South Africa at home, and we will be looking to win that as well. I want to thank the fans for all their support, as it is always appreciated.”
The ICC recognises performances in both men’s and women’s cricket every month with the player of the month awards. The initiative was launched in January 2021, to celebrate the best performances across different formats of international cricket.