ICC releases Men’s Player of the Month nominees for June

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has released the Player of the month nominees for June. 

The three players who made it to this list were the key performers for their respective teams in the recently concluded Test series between England and New Zealand. 

These three players are Daryl Mitchell, Joe Root, and Jonny Bairstow, the top run-scorers in the red-ball series. 

Daryl Mitchell

The Kiwi middle-order batter, Mitchell, often came at precarious situations but helped the team to recover sufficiently by stitching crucial stands with his fellow Player, Tom Blundell. 

Mitchell amassed 538 runs in six innings at an average of 107.60, with three hundreds and two fifties. His scores in the respective innings were read as 13, 108, 190 and 62*, 109, and 56. 

Although he could not help avoid a whitewash, the 31-year-old did his best with well-built composure and solid presence at the crease. 

Joe Root 

The former skipper, Root, has been the leading run-getter of the Three Lions in the last three Test series. He garnered 396 runs in six batting appearances at an average of 99, with a top score of 176. 

He returned with the knocks of 11, 115*, 176, 3, 5, 86* in the three-match series. In this pursuit, he equalled the record of 27 red-ball centuries held by Virat Kohli and Steve Smith. As a result, he was adjudged Player of the Series as well. 

The 31-year-0ld also became the joint-youngest to reach the 10,000 runs mark in the longest format. Both Cook and Root achieved this unique feat in 31 years and 157 days. 

Jonny Bairstow

Bairstow started the series with knocks of 1 & 16 in the first fixture of the three-match red-ball series. 

In the second Test, he also played a disappointing knock of 8. However, the 32-year-old delivered a sensational knock of 136 off 92 in the subsequent innings to help the team in chasing down the target of 299 in 50 overs. 

The middle-order batter followed it up with knocks of 162 and 71* in the third Test to emerge as one of the fundamental forces for completing a series whitewash. In six innings, he amassed 394 runs at an average of 78.80.