Sri Lankan spin sensation Prabhat Jayasuriya and rising England women’s cricket team all-rounder Emma Lamb were on Monday named the ICC Players of the Month for July.
Jayasuriya, 30, faced competition from England’s in-form batsman and June’s Player of the Month winner Jonny Bairstow and French youngster Gustave McConn to claim the honor. Jayasuriya, who made his Test debut in Sri Lanka’s final Test match against Australia in Galle in early July, picked up 12 wickets and guided Sri Lanka to a series-level victory.
He took another 17 wickets in the recently concluded two-match Test series against Pakistan.
“I am delighted with this announcement and would like to thank the fans for voting me as the ICC Men’s Player of the Month. Certainly, it has been an incredible month for me, since I made my Test debut, and I also got the opportunity to equalize the Test series I played against Australia and Pakistan for my team,” Jayasuriya said.
“I take this opportunity to thank my fans, teammates, coaches, family and friends for helping me along my journey, and I am thrilled with what I am experiencing at this point in my life,” he said. Meanwhile, Lamb was rewarded after an extraordinary three-match ODI series win against South Africa.
The 24-year-old youngster won the award by defeating compatriot Nat Sciver and India pacer Renuka Singh.
Lamb scored 234 runs in three matches, including a match-winning century (102 off 97 balls) and then two half-centuries (67 off 65 balls and 65 off 66 balls) in the next two matches. Awarded the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award for July. I am very happy to have my place at the top of the order in the Test and ODI team and it has been wonderful to score some runs and help the team win.
“Everyone in the team contributed to our multi-format series win against South Africa, so I just want to score runs for the team. I feel very fortunate that my performance in the last month has been rewarded and I hope to continue my good form.”