The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday revealed its Men’s Player of the Month nominees for May 2024 and they are from the West Indies, Ireland and Pakistan.
From West Indies, they nominated Gudakesh Motie, from Pakistan it's ace pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi and from Ireland, it is their wicketkeeper batter Lorcan Tucker.
Motie had a fabulous month as he played an important role in the 3-0 series win over South Africa in May. He grabbed three scalps in the first T20I and stopped South Africa from chasing West Indies’ target of 176 as the Proteas bundled out for 147.
Motie repeated the feat in the second T20I with figures of 3/22 and South Africa lost the game by 16 runs.
Motie finished the series with two more wickets in the final T20I, picking up eight wickets in total in the series and making himself a contender for ICC’s Player of the Month award.
Pakistan’s Afridi was on a tour of Ireland and England with the team in May and he picked up 10 wickets in five games.
He picked up three consecutive three-wicket hauls, one against Ireland and two against England making his May average 14.5.
The third nominee and the only batter among the three is Tucker. The Irish had an amazing run against Pakistan in the three-match T20I series in May.
He scored 277 runs in six innings at an average of 37.83. Tucker also scored four 40+ scores in four innings with a 51 against Pakistan at Dublin.
Tucker was also part of Ireland’s historic win over Pakistan in the first T20I of the series but he did not score much in the game.
ICC also revealed the nominees for the Women’s Player of the Month award and they are Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka), Kathryn Bryce (Scotland) and Sophie Ecclestone (England).
Athapaththu was the leading run-scorer of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier and also picked up six wickets in four games.
Bryce led the team from the front and helped them qualify for the T20 World Cup 2024 in September with her all-round performance.
As for Ecclestone, she has been scoring headlines with her performances. In May, she has been stellar against Pakistan in the ODI and T20I series. She picked up five wickets in three T20I games and six wickets in two ODI games.
The ICC will reveal the winner next week after the fan voting is closed and results are gathered.
