South Africa’s Marco Jansen, Pakistan’s Arafat Minhas and West Indies captain Shai Hope have been shortlisted for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award for October, while India’s Deepti Sharma, Australia’s Annabel Sutherland and Bangladesh’s Sobhana Mostary are in contention for the women’s honour.
Jansen topped the bowlers’ and all-rounders’ tables in the ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings during this period, Arafat was named the Player of the Series in the Pakistan Tri-Series and Hope made the shortlist on the back of some outstanding performances in white-ball cricket.
Sharma’s performances in home ODI and T20I series against Zimbabwe put her in contention for a second women’s award, Sobhana’s showing against formidable opposition Australia in ODIs helped her make the cut while Sutherland made it on the back of efforts with both bat and ball against Bangladesh.
Men’s Shortlist
Marco Jansen (South Africa)
The 26-year-old scored 198 runs and grabbed 13 wickets with his left-arm pace bowling during this period. A crucial knock of 85 and figures of five for 33 and one for 34 in the second Test against Australia helped him grab the top ranking in two lists as he became the first South Africa bowler to occupy the top spot since Kagiso Rabada in 2024 and the first from his country to top the all-rounders’ list since Vernon Philander in August 2014.
Arafat Minhas (Pakistan)
The 21-year-old left-arm spinning all-rounder was named the Player of the series as the hosts won the Tri-Series featuring Sri Lanka and England. He totalled 149 runs at a strike-rate of 119.20 and took nine wickets at an economy of 5.13. The highlights for him were a Player of the Match effort of 59 and six for 40 in a match against England and striking 61 off 31 in the final against Sri Lanka in Lahore.
Shai Hope (West Indies)
The experienced wicketkeeper-batter was in superb form during this period, knocking up three unbeaten centuries. He struck a match-winning 162 not out in the last ODI against India in New Chandigarh and totalled 261 runs at a strike-rate of 190.51 in five T20Is in the T20I series to follow which included identical scores of 102 not out in the second match in Ranchi and the fourth in Hyderabad.
Women’s Shortlist
Deepti Sharma (India)
Sharma scored 106 not out the only time she got to bat in a home ICC Women’s Championship series against Zimbabwe and took five wickets at an economy rate of 3.42 as India blanked the opposition 3-0. In three T20Is that preceded the ODIs, Sharma again got to bat only once, scoring 49 off 37 balls and chipped in with two scalps with her off-spin bowling.
Sobhana Mostary (Bangladesh)
Sobhana registered the highest score by a woman batter from Bangladesh against Australia – a solid 118 off 134 deliveries – in the second match of the ICC Women’s Championship series played in Brisbane. She finished the series with 129 runs at a strike-rate of 73.71.
Annabel Sutherland (Australia)
Sutherland showed her competence with both bat and ball, helping Australia to a 3-0 win over Bangladesh in ODIs, scoring 99 runs at a strike-rate of 132.00 and taking six wickets at an economy rate of 4.12. The highlights for her were a haul of four for 30 in the first match and a score of 74 not out in the third. In three T20Is against New Zealand, she scored 19 runs and took one wicket.
Frosty
The first Test cricket captains for the English team were James Lillywhite and David Gregory. Of the two, Lillywhite was the first to play. He died in 1929, becoming the last player of the very first Test match to pass away.
New York Mood
The highest-scoring international rugby player of all time is New Zealand’s Dan Carter, who amassed a total of 1,598 points throughout his illustrious career.