Ace Sri Lanka spinner Wanindu Hasaranga and Australian women team’s star all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner were on Tuesday adjudged the winners of the ICC Player of the Month awards for June.
Hasaranga beat out strong opposition from Australia batter Travis Head and Zimbabwe opener Sean Williams for the coveted award in the men’s section on the back of his superb performances for the island nation at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
The all-rounder collected 26 wickets at an average of 10 during the month, with the majority of those scalps helping Sri Lanka qualify for the 50-over World Cup at the end of the year.
Hasaranga was the leading wicket-taker in the Qualifier event, with the 25-year-old also becoming just the second player, after Pakistan great Waqar Younis, in the history of ODI cricket to claim three consecutive five-wicket hauls.
On the other hand, Gardner edged out Ashes rival Tammy Beaumont and West Indies captain Hayley Mathews for the top honour in the women’s category. In the process, he claimed the third monthly award of her career thus far to go with the ones she won in December 2022 and February this year.
The Australia star came to the fore when she helped herself to a magnificent 12-wicket haul in the Women’s Ashes one-off Test against England at Trent Bridge.
Gardner claimed the big scalps of Heather Knight, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Sophia Dunkley and Beaumont when collecting decent figures of 4/99 during England’s first innings, but trumped that effort when picking up eight wickets in the second innings to help clinch victory for Australia.
Both players were selected as the standout performers following a vote conducted among a specialist panel comprising ICC Hall of Famers, former international players, media representatives and global cricket fans registered at icc-cricket.com, who had been voting since the nominees were announced last week.