ICC unveils nominees for the Men's and Women's Player of the Month award for September 2024

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced three male and three female nominees for the Player of the Month award for September 2024 on Monday, October 7. Travis Head, Prabath Jayasuriya and Kamindu Mendis were announced as the nominations for the Men's Player of the Month.

Head was shortlisted for the award following his heroics in the whiteball tour against England and Scotland. In the five T20Is he played, the southpaw racked up 182 runs in the month at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 245.94. On the ODI leg of the England tour, the 30-year-old was adjudged the Player of the Series, scoring 248 runs and picking up six wickets as Australia beat England 3-2 in the five-match ODI series.

Prabath Jayasuriya and Kamindu Mendis were nominated following their heroics in the two-match Test series against New Zealand and the second Test against England held last month. Jayasuriya was a part of all three Tests played last month and picked up 21 wickets at an average of 27.90. The 32-year-old was also instrumental in helping Sri Lanka bulldoze New Zealand 2-0 in their recently played Test series.

Kamindu Mendis is the third and final nominee for the award. The all-rounder had a terrific last month, scoring runs for fun and emerging as one of Sri Lanka's finest young cricketers. The 26-year-old scored 451 runs at an average of 90.20, thus helping Sri Lanka win three of the four Tests played last month.

Whilst doing so, he also leveled legendary batter Don Bradman to become the fastest batter to get to 1000 Test runs, achieving the feat in 13 innings.

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ICC also announces nominees for the Women's Player of the Month for September 2024

South Africa v England - 2022 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup - Source: Getty

The ICC also announced the nominees for the Women's Player of the Month award for September 2024. England's Tammy Beaumont, Ireland's Aimee Maguire and UAE's Esha Oza made the final cut for the same.

Tammy Beaumont had an excellent month gone by, with the seasoned English batter scoring 212 runs in the three-match ODI series against Ireland and helping them win the series by 2-1. She also scored 67 runs in two T20Is that followed as England and Ireland shared the spoils in the two-match T20I series.

Aimee Maguire also had an impressive showing last month. The 18-year-old picked up 12 wickets across five contests played against England, which included a fifer that helped Ireland beat England in the last game of the ODI series.

Esha Oza is the final nominee for the Women's Player of the Month. She makes the cut on the back of impressive showings in the tri-series played between UAE Women, Nambia Women and Zimbabwe Women. She recorded her career-best score of 84 against Zimbabwe Women, helping her side win the contest. Overall, she managed to score 209 runs and picked up eight wickets in the tri-series.

Dunith Wellalage and Harshitha Samarawickrama of Sri Lanka were awarded the ICC Men's Player of the Month and Women's Player of the Month, respectively, for August 2024.