Mohammed Siraj and Dewald Brevis - (Source : @Johns/X.com)
On Monday, September 8, the ICC released a list of nominees for the 'Player Of The Month' Award for August. India's Mohammed Siraj made the cut despite playing a solitary match. West Indies' Jayden Seales and New Zealand's Matt Henry are the rest of the nominees.
For the month of August, it was an off-season as fewer cricket matches were held compared to the other months. Let's look at the performances of the three nominated players.
Mohammed Siraj
Mohammed Siraj played a solitary match in August, which was the fifth Test against England. The right-arm seamer had a crucial role as he bowled 46 overs across two innings in Bumrah's absence and took nine wickets, which featured a fifer in the second innings.
Siraj was the star of the match as he took the final wicket of the match and helped India level the series 2-2.
Matt Henry
Matt Henry was the star bowler in New Zealand’s 2-0 Test series win over Zimbabwe, where he took 16 wickets across two matches at an whopping average of 9.12. Henry took a five-wicket haul in both Tests and rattled the Zimbabwe squad with his pace bowling.
Jayden Seales
Jayden Seales played a pivotal role in the West Indies’ historic ODI series win over Pakistan, their first in 34 years. The young pacer claimed 10 wickets across three matches at an average of 10 and an economy rate of just 4.10.
While Seales and Henry featured in more games, Siraj's inclusion has raised a certain doubts. Thus, this article will further shed light on three cricketers who were ignored in place of Mohammed Siraj.
3 Cricketers Ignored By ICC For Player Of The Month
1. Dewald Brevis
South Africa's youngster took the world by storm in August and announced his arrival in style during Proteas' recently concluded white-ball series against Australia. The 22-year-old played three T20Is against The Kangaroos where he amassed 180 runs in three innings, averaging a whopping 90.
He played a record-breaking knock of 125 (56) in the 2nd match and followed it up with a fifty-run knock in the third and series decider match.
Courtesy of his T20I heroics, he got to make his ODI debut and despite two bad performances, he finished the series on a high with a 49-run knock.
2. Mohammad Nawaz
Another key star who had a phenomenal month is Pakistan's Mohammad Nawaz. Notably, the left-arm spinner took 10 wickets in the West Indies tour. Nawaz took three wickets in the ODI series, whereas he claimed seven wickets in three innings in the T20I format, which includes two three-wicket hauls.
Nawaz was the key player for Pakistan during the T20I series and his performance helped Pakistan seal the series 2-1.
3. Mitchell Marsh
Mitchell Marsh is another player who deserved to be nominated for ICC' Player of the month award for his stellar show against South Africa in the ODIs and T20Is. Talking about Marsh, he was the leading run-getter across formats in the month of August among permanent members.
Marsh, in the month of August, scored 295 runs in six innings, which featured a century and two fifty-plus scores. He had a stellar ODI series, where he scored 206 runs and played a 100-run knock and 88-run innings in the 1st ODI.
Even in the T20Is, Mitchell Marsh scored 89 runs in three innings, averaging 29.67.
