The ICC announced the player of the month nominees for April 2022 on Tuesday. Alyssa Healy of Australia, Natalie Sciver of England and Janet Mbabazi of Uganda have made the cut to the list of nominees for the player of the month.
While Healy and Sciver played just the one match in April, Mbabazi, on the other hand featured in six T20Is last month during the Capricorn Women’s Tri-Series which also included Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Alyssa Healy, Australia
In the solitary match that she played in April, the swashbuckling wicket-keeper batter of Australia shattered the world record for scoring the highest runs in a World Cup final innings. The 32-year-old plundered a blistering 170 off 138 balls to power Australia to a daunting total of 5-356 in 50 overs against England in the World Cup final on April 3. Picking up from where she had left in the semi-final against the West Indies, Healy thrashed the English bowling attack, as she tore them apart with 26 boundaries. She stitched a couple of 150+ partnerships in the process with her opening partner Rachael Haynes and number three batter Beth Mooney. Healy’s 170 is also the highest score in this edition of the Women’s Cricket World Cup as well as the second-highest score by an Australian in a Women’s Cricket World Cup. She also went past her countrymates, Adam Gilchrist (149 v Sri Lanka in the 2007 World Cup final) and former Australia captain Ricky Ponting (140 not out v India in the 2003 World Cup final) to score the most number of runs in a World Cup final.
Natalie Sciver, England
In the same match when Alyssa Healy muscled 170, England’s vice captain Natalie Sciver also hammered a delectable century. Sciver provided the counter attack with an undefeated 148 off 121 balls to keep England’s hopes alive in the World Cup. The right handed middle order batter peppered the boundary rope 16 times, including 15 hits to the fence and one over it. In the process, she registered the third highest score in a World Cup final. Her innings came under pressure as her team was chasing a mammoth total of 357 in 50 overs.
Janet Mbabazi, Uganda
The star all-rounder from Uganda garnered a lot of attention after her stellar performance with both bat and ball in the recently concluded Capricorn Women’s Tri-Series hosted by Namibia which also included Zimbabwe. She scored 118 runs in six innings at an average of 29.50 and with the ball scalped 11 wickets, including two four wicket hauls to complete the tournament as the leading wicket taker.
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