The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday (July 12) named the winners of the ICC Player of the Month awards for June. The award, introduced in January this year, recognizes the best performances from both male and female cricketers across all forms of international cricket.
In the men’s category, New Zealand opener Devon Conway was crowned the ICC Player of the Month for his stellar showing in the debut Test series against England followed by the World Test Championship (WTC) final versus India.
While Conway slammed a double century on debut at Lord's, he hit two half-centuries in his next two Tests, including in the WTC final at Southampton.
Conway won the award ahead of team-mate Kyle Jamieson, who earned the Player-of-the-Match award in the WTC final, with South Africa's Quinton de Kock being the other nominee for his fine performances on the tour of West Indies.
"I'm truly honoured to win this award. That I have received it for my performances in Test cricket makes it extra special," said Conway in an ICC release.
"Scoring a double century at Lord's was a dream come true for me and to have also been able to contribute to our win over India in the ICC World Test Championship Final is something that I know I will proudly look back on in years to come," he said.
"I would like to thank the ICC and New Zealand Cricket for their support and encouragement and look forward to the international cricket to come in the second half of this year," Conway added.
In the women’s category, England spinner Sophie Ecclestone bagged the prestigious award for her brilliant showing against India.
In the one-off Test at Bristol last month, Ecclestone took eight wickets while she grabbed three scalps each in the two ODIs which followed.
She edged out Indian pair of Shafali Verma and Sneh Rana to become the second English female to claim the ICC Women's Player of the Month award after Tammy Beaumont, who was crowned in February.
"It's really nice to win this award. It's after a period in which we've played all three formats so it feels good to be recognised for my performances in the Test and the white-ball series," said Ecclestone.
"We've been happy as a team how we've performed across this series. We would have liked to have won the Test match but hopefully, we can clinch the multi-format series," she added.
"It's all crucial preparation for the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand, when we'll be defending the title we won in 2017, and we feel in a decent place as a team," she said.
(With ICC inputs)
