Sobhana Mostary is in the race for the ICC Women’s Player of the Month after her fine form in the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier. The Bangladesh batter made the shortlist for January. USA pacer Tara Norris and Ireland captain Gaby Lewis are the other nominees. The ICC announced the men’s and women’s shortlists on Saturday.
Sobhana helped Bangladesh reach the main round of the T20 World Cup in England. She played six matches in the qualifier last month. She scored 229 runs at an average of 45.80. Her strike rate was 145.85.
Her best knock came against Thailand. She scored 59 from 42 balls with one six and nine fours. In the next game, she made 47 against Scotland. She also crossed 30 in three of the other four matches. Sobhana chipped in with one wicket with her off spin. Bangladesh stayed unbeaten in the event and booked their World Cup place.
Tara Norris impressed with the ball for the United States. Her team did not qualify, but she finished as the top wicket taker of the tournament with 15 wickets. Eleven of those came in five T20 matches in January. She took three wickets each against Namibia, Ireland, and Thailand. Norris also scored 39 runs with the bat.
Gaby Lewis led Ireland to World Cup qualification. She scored 252 runs in six T20 matches last month at a strike rate of 124.87. Her best score was 73 against Bangladesh. Lewis ended the qualifier as the top run scorer with 276 runs.
In the men’s list, England’s Joe Root, New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell, and India’s Suryakumar Yadav are the nominees.
Root starred in England’s ODI series win over Sri Lanka. He scored 242 runs in the 2 to 1 win with two fifties and one hundred. He also took two wickets with his off spin and won the player of the series award. Root also scored 160 in the first innings of the Sydney Test in the Ashes in Australia.
Mitchell started the year in strong form. He played a key role in New Zealand’s first ODI series win in India. He scored 352 runs at an average of 176 in the three match series, which New Zealand won 2 to 1. He hit hundreds in the last two matches and won the player of the series award. He also moved to the top of the ODI batting rankings. Mitchell later scored 125 runs at a strike rate of 186.56 in the five match T20 series against India.
Suryakumar Yadav also found form in the New Zealand T20 series before the World Cup. He ended a run of 23 innings without a fifty when he scored an unbeaten 82 in the second match. He then added two more scores over fifty in the next three games. He made 242 runs at a strike rate of 196.74 as India won the series 4 to 1. The India captain won the player of the series award for his show.
