On Monday, the star West Indian all-rounder Hayley Matthews won the ICC Player of the Month award, riding on her stellar performances with both bat and ball against Pakistan in November.
The West Indies toured Pakistan for a three-match ODI series that was played between November 8 and November 14 at the National Stadium in Karachi. The West Indies team led by Stafanie Taylor whitewashed Pakistan as they won the three-match ODI series 3-0. The West Indies won by margins of 45 runs, 37 runs, and six wickets in three matches respectively.
The 23-year old all-rounder from Barbados played an instrumental role in her team’s clinical performance against Pakistan. The right-hand middle-order bat smashed 132 runs in three innings at a healthy average of 44 and strike rate of 76.74. She registered one half-century, including the best of 57 in the first ODI. She scored 57 runs off 67 balls, hitting eight boundaries. With a total of 18 boundaries in the series, she was the second-highest boundary scorer, behind her teammate Deandra Dottin, who hammered 23 boundaries.
With respect to her bowling, the right arm off-spinner completed the series with seven wickets and was the second leading wicket-taker behind Pakistan’s spinner Anam Amin, who scalped nine wickets. She scalped a four-wicket haul in the second ODI, giving away just 26 runs in nine overs, including two maiden overs. She won the player of the match in that game as she not only contributed with the ball but also chipped in with the bat mustering 26 runs off 47 balls, including two boundaries. The wily off-spinner had the second-best economy in the tournament as she gave away 98 runs in 29 overs (174 balls) at an economy of just 3.38.
For the November month’s ICC Player of the Month award, she faced stiff competition from Pakistan’s Anam Amin and Bangladesh’s Nahida Akter. Matthews’ all-round abilities may have given her the upper edge over the spin duo of Amin and Akter. While Amin accounted for nine wickets in the three match ODI series against West Indies, Akter picked up 11 wickets in the three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe. Both Amin and Akter were the leading wicket-takers in the respective tournaments that they played last month.
I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.
