Shaheen Afridi, Gudakesh Motie and Lorcan Tucker nominated for ICC Men’s Player of the Month award

New Delhi: Shaheen Shah Afridi, Gudakesh Motie and Lorcan Tucker have been nominated for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month Award for May 2024. The trio are currently turning out for Pakistan, West Indies, and Ireland respectively in the ongoing Men’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the USA.

Afridi, Pakistan’s left-arm fast-bowling spearhead, is nominated for the second successive month after another spell of blistering performances. He took 10 wickets in his five T20I contests during the month, which included three consecutive three-wicket hauls.

Spells of 3-49 and 3-14 against Ireland helped Pakistan overturn a series deficit to win over Ireland in Dublin before the 24-year-old followed up with 3-36 against England in Birmingham, which ended in a losing cause. The three-time nominee has never won a Men’s Player of the Month Award but has a strong case to claim his maiden prize.

Motie, the West Indies left-arm spinner, enjoyed plenty of success in the home series against South Africa in May, taking eight wickets across three matches at an average of 8.50, as the hosts sealed a statement 3-0 victory in Jamaica before embarking on the Men’s T20 World Cup.

Motie took 3-25 in the opening contest to restrict the tourists’ chase and he backed that performance up with another impressive spell of 3-2 to stifle the middle order in the second fixture. Another two wickets in the final match turned the tide in favour of the hosts once more and allowed Motie, 29, to claim the Player of the Series accolade.

Meanwhile, Tucker aims to become the first Ireland winner of the Men’s Player of the Month award since Harry Tector in May 2023 and finds himself in the nomination thanks to explosive run-scoring feats last month.

Tucker top-scored for Ireland in the second and third matches against Pakistan with successive quickfire scores of 51 and 73, and carried that momentum into the tri-series against Scotland and Netherlands, hitting 40 and 55 as Ireland sealed confidence-boosting wins ahead of their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup campaign.

–IANS