Bangladesh fast bowler Nahid Rana, Oman captain Jatinder Singh and left-arm seamer Ajay Kumar of the United Arab Emirates have made the shortlist for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award for April, while South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt, Sri Lanka batter Imesha Dulani and Brazil all-rounder Laura Cardosa are in line for the women’s award.
Rana has made the men’s shortlist following his Player of the Series effort in three ODIs at home against New Zealand, Singh’s performances in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 in Nepal see him make the cut while Kumar made it after a notable start to his ODI career in the same series.
Wolvaardt, who recently won two awards in the space of three months, is in line once again after fine performances in an ODI series against New Zealand and a T20I series versus India. Dulani stood out on an ODI and T20I tour of Bangladesh while Cardosa came into reckoning after a purple patch that saw her become the first player ever to take nine wickets in a T20I.
Men’s Shortlist
Nahid Rana (Bangladesh)
The 23-year-old took eight wickets at an economy of 4.46 and was named the Player of the Series as Bangladesh defeated New Zealand 2-1 in a home ODI series. The highlight for Rana was a haul of five for 32 in the second match in Mirpur that Bangladesh won by 55 runs, and finished the series with two wickets in the final match in Chattogram.
Jatinder Singh (Oman)
The Oman captain and opener aggregated 266 runs at an average of 53.20 and an impressive strike-rate of 115.15 in ODIs played during the month. He struck 51 against Scotland early in the month and finished off with a superb 139 off 91 balls against Nepal in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2, which is the highest ODI score by an Oman batter.
Ajay Kumar (United Arab Emirates)
The left-arm seam bowler from the United Arab Emirates grabbed nine wickets at an economy of 3.66. He returned superb figures of three for 34 against Nepal and six for 35 against Oman in his first two career ODIs that came in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2.
Women’s shortlist
Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa)
The South Africa captain and opener, who won the award in October and December last year, continued her fine recent form across the two white-ball formats. She struck 69 each in the last two ODIs in a series against New Zealand before leading her side to a 4-1 T20I series win over India, scoring a century and three half-centuries.
Imesha Dulani (Sri Lanka)
The Sri Lanka opener was named the Player of the Series in a 2-1 win over Bangladesh in their ICC Women’s Championship series for scoring 116 runs. She followed it with 82 runs in two T20Is including a brisk 55 off 40 balls in the first match of the series.
Laura Cardoso (Brazil)
Laura had a memorable run in T20Is that saw her score 203 runs at a strike-rate of over 130 in seven matches which included half-centuries against Botswana and Zambia. She finished with 17 wickets at an economy rate of just 2.24, recording astonishing figures of nine for four against Lesotho.
Pinup Diva
Abbas Ali Baig was the first Indian cricketer to be kissed during a Test match – When Abbas Ali Baig reached a half-century in the third Test match against Australia at the Brabourne Stadium in 1960, a pretty young girl ran all the way from the North Stand to greet the batsman. She kissed Baig on his cheek.
Sloth
The most common physical injuries among cricketers is a hamstring strain. This occurs among players in this sport due to sudden bursts of movement required in the game. Cricketers often stand still for long periods before they run or bowl. A hamstring strain also occurs due to overuse of muscles and joints.