Dubai: England Test captain Joe Root was voted as ICC Men’s player of the month for August. Ireland all-rounder Eimear Richardson was voted as the player of the month in women’s category, said the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday.
Root beat competition from Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah and Pakistan speedster Shaheen Afridi to win the award for a stellar month of August. Root scored 507 runs in three Tests against India in August. He scored three centuries, 109 in Trent Bridge, an unbeaten 180 in Lord’s and 121 at his home ground in Headingley, which resulted in an England win.
All three centuries propelled him to sit at the top of the Test Rankings for batsmen.
“With the expectation and responsibility on his shoulders as the captain, I was really impressed with how he led from the front with the bat, and become the number one ranked Test batter in the world,” said former South Africa all-rounder JP Duminy, one of the panellists in the ICC Voting Academy.
In the women’s award, Eimear saw off tough competition from teammate Gaby Lewis and Thailand’s Nattaya Boochatham. Eimear put in a fine all-round display in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier last month, which led her to be named the Player of the Tournament.
She took seven wickets at an economy rate of 4.19 in the tournament, including important spells of 2/6 in the opener against Germany and 2/24 against group-toppers Scotland. She also returned 2/0 and 1/22 against France and Netherlands respectively, as Ireland came second in their group.
Her contributions went beyond the ball. She scored a crucial 49-ball 53 in their final match against the Netherlands and totalled 76 runs in the tournament — a return that put her in the top five of the run charts.
“It was very exciting to be nominated for the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for August and to now be voted as the winner is just so amazing and humbling. It was great to contribute to overall team performances at the European Qualifiers and hopefully we have done enough to make the next stage and compete on a global level again,” said Eimear.
(IANS)