New Delhi, Aug 10 (IANS) England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt, West Indies skipper Hayley Matthews and Sri Lankan batter Harshitha Samarawickrama have been named as the nominees for the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award for July 2026.
Nat earned her nomination after leading England’s batting effort in the knockout stages of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 on home soil, despite suffering a calf injury during the competition.
The experienced batting all-rounder produced a Player of the Match performance in the semi-final against South Africa – scoring a crucial 75 after England were reduced to 23/3 inside the first four overs.
She backed it up by top-scoring with 58 off 53 balls in the final against Australia at Lord’s. Nat also shared a 133-run fourth-wicket partnership with Heather Knight, though it wasn’t enough for England to clinch the T20 World Cup in front of their home crowd.
On the other hand, Hayley enjoyed a stellar month with both bat and ball during the three-match ODI series against Ireland. She opened the series with a career-best unbeaten 159 to complement her figures of 3-52 in the first innings, before following it up with another century off 94 balls and a spell of 2-34 in the second game. She finished the 3-0 series win with 265 runs at an average of 132.50 alongside seven wickets.
Meanwhile, Harshitha played a pivotal role in Sri Lanka’s 2-1 ODI series victory over Pakistan by amassing 173 runs to bag the Player of the Series award. After a quiet opening game, the left-handed batter struck a brilliant 100 off 119 balls in a 203-run partnership with Vishmi Gunaratne in the second ODI.
Harshitha then anchored a successful chase of 188 with an unbeaten 71 off 92 balls in the series decider at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota, as Sri Lanka won by eight wickets.
–IANS
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