Dubai, Jan 8 (FN Agency) The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday revealed the shortlists of contenders for the ICC Men’s and Women’s Player of the Month awards for December 2023. The shortlist for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month contains three top performers from key ICCWorld Test Championship clashes last month. Pat Cummins has enjoyed a remarkable 12 months as captain of Australia, and caps a fine year with his first ICC Men’s Player of the Month nomination following a commanding bowling performance to secure series victory over Pakistan. Taijul Islam of Bangladesh also welcomes his maiden nomination thanks to impressive bowling displays in the series against New Zealand. The Blackcaps’ Glenn Phillips provided plenty of heroics in the final Test between the two sides to level the series, and is the third name in contention for the December award, an ICC media release said.
The ICC Women’s Player of the Month shortlist for December includes two of India’s primary match-winners during their multi-format month, plus a Zimbabwe veteran who stole the show at the ICC Women’s T20WC Africa Qualifier.Precious Marange bowled Zimbabwe to a landmark victory at the Africa Qualifier, with a sparkling run of form which included a hat-trick in the final outing. Jemimah Rodrigues led India’s batting charge superbly in December, hitting valuable runs in Tests and ODIs against England and Australia. Her teammate Deepti Sharma completes the shortlist thanks to blistering displays at both ends of the wicket – with notable runs and wickets against the same opposition. An independent ICC Voting Academy and fans around the world will now be invited to cast their votes to decide the winners, which will be announced next week. Fans registered at icc-cricket.com/awards will be able to vote for their favourite performers until Saturday.