The International Cricket Council on Tuesday announced the nominees for ICC Player of the Month for January.
While Chamari Athapaththu, Deandra Dottin, and Heather Knight were the best performers for the month among women’s, U-19 World Cup players of the tournament Dewald Brevis, Ebadot Hossain, and Keegan Petersen were the top performers among men’s.
1. Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka)
Leading Sri Lanka with a Player of the Series performance in the 2022 Commonwealth Games Qualifiers, Chamari Athapaththu’s all-rounder performance helped Sri Lanka to grab the only spot that was left as women’s cricket make its debut in Commonwealth Games this year. With 221 runs (2 50s) with an average of 55.25 along with 4 wickets (Best- 3//17) at an average of 6.75, Athapaththu finished the competition as the leading run-scorer.
2. Deandra Dottin (West Indies)
The World Boss as she is known as, the West Indies opener Deandra Dottin smashed an unbeaten 150 off 158 balls in the 1st of the 4 ODIs of the team’s tour to South Africa. An innings that had 18 4s and 4 6s but rain interrupted the match and the game was abandoned. In the 2nd ODI that went into the Super Over, Dottin smashed an unbelievable 19 off just 5 deliveries (2 4s, 1 6) as WI set a record 25 runs target in the over. In the 2 ODIs that were played in January, Dottin aggregated a total of 187 runs.
3. Heather Knight (England)
With a brilliant knock of unbeaten 168 in the first innings and missing out on a half-century by just 2 runs in the 2nd innings of the Ashes test, England’s Skipper Heather Knight almost led her team to the 4 points of the test match. Though Australia made a strong comeback, ending one of the most thrilling women’s test matches in Draw, Knight’s performance made her the player of the match.
Author of the poetry book ‘The Scent of Rhythm’, I am a passionate writer and a Sports enthusiast who writes on Cricket and plays Badminton.
