Ireland’s captain Laura Delany and Pakistan’s Asif Ali have been awarded the ICC Player of the Month award for October 2021 among women and men respectively.
Delany got the better of her teammate Gaby Lewis and Zimbabwe’s captain Mary-Anne Musonda to clinch the award in the women’s category while Ali got it over Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan and Namibia’s David Wiese in the men’s category.
The Irish captain excelled with both bat and the ball during the team’s tour to Zimbabwe for a four-match ODI series held from 5th to 11th October. Delany scored her highest ODI score of 88 from 81 balls which included ten boundaries and took a wicket in her nine-over spell in the first of the four ODIs helping Ireland post a total of 253 for 8 wickets. Though, an unbeaten 103 by Mary-Anne Musonda who was a nominee of the award too, took the victory towards Zimbabwe. However, Ireland bounced back stronger and went on taking the remaining three matches.
The second ODI was not as good as the first for Delany as managed 35 with the bat and no wicket in the three overs she bowled where she gave 13 runs. However, the performance by her teammates Leah Paul, Lewis (who was also nominated for the October award), and the bowlers helped the team earn the victory. A repeat of this was seen in the third ODI where Delany got one wicket while the team chased down the target easily without the requirement of Delany with the bat.
Ireland’s Laura Delany is named the ICC female player of the month for October 2021.
Congratulations @lauradel14, well deserved 👏🙌@IrishWomensCric pic.twitter.com/uNKvxijyzN
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) November 9, 2021
In the last ODI of the tour, Delany once again put up an all-rounder show by scoring 68 of 53 deliveries with the bat which included seven boundaries, and taking two wickets in her quota of 10 overs. Delany scored a total of 189 runs in the tour with four wickets to her name. Her performance was appreciated by many and has made her the perfect fit for the Women Player of the month award.
In a report by The Indian Express, Lisa Sthalekar who is a member of the ICC Voting Academy applauded Delany’s performance and said, “Laura has been playing international cricket for over a decade and has the difficult task of captaining her country, which carries a great weight of expectation. I have been following her career…Watched her development. This recent series was a breakout series for her as she was able to register her highest ODI score and is a worthy recipient of the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for October.”
Congratulations Laura Delany!!
Loves all things female cricket