Photo Credit: Oisin Keniry
The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced the winners of the ICC Player of the Month Awards for October which recognise and celebrate the best performances from both male and female cricketers across all forms of international cricket throughout the year.
Pakistan’s Asif Ali and Ireland’s Laura Delany have been voted the ICC Players of the Month for October. Ali beat Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan and Namibia’s David Wiese to the men’s award, and Delany beat teammate Gaby Lewis and Zimbabwe’s Mary-Anne Musonda to the women’s prize.
Ireland captain Delany shone in their 3-1 ODI series win over Zimbabwe. The all-rounder flourished with bat and ball, scoring 189 runs at 63, and taking four wickets at 27.
Commenting on Delany’s performance ICC Voting Academy member Lisa Sthalekar said:
“Laura has been playing international cricket for over a decade and has the difficult task of captaining her country, which carries a great weight of expectation. I have been following her career, ever since I played alongside her in the Gordon Women’s Club in Sydney and watched her development. This recent series was a breakout series for her as she was able to register her highest ODI score and is a worthy recipient of the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for October.”
Laura Delany said:
“I was delighted to be nominated with Gaby and Mary-Anne, and from an Irish perspective it has been a really good sign that we’ve had a few players in recent times to have been nominated. It’s a great honour to win it though, and I’d like to thank Lisa [Sthalekar] for her kind words.”
Name of Author: Cricket Ireland
Cricket Ireland, officially known as The Irish Cricket Union Company Limited by Guarantee, is the governing body for cricket on the island of Ireland. It oversees the national men’s and women’s teams and organizes the Inter-Provincial Series, Super 3s, and All-Ireland club competitions. Ireland achieved Test status for women in 2000 and for men in 2017 when it became a Full Member of the ICC.