Atkinson and Athapaththu named ICC Players of the Month winners for July 2024

New Delhi, Aug 12 (IANS) England’s pacer Gus Atkinson and Sri Lanka’s captain Chamari Athapaththu have been named winners of the ICC Players of the Month awards in men’s and women’s categories respectively for July 2024.

Atkinson overcame challenges from Scotland’s Charlie Cassell and India’s Washington Sundar to claim the honour and becomes the first winner of the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award from England since Chris Woakes won in July 2023.

The right-arm fast-bowler enjoyed a fruitful start to his international career in the longest format, spearheading England’s bowling attack as they swept the West Indies 3-0 in the Test series. He entered the Test team in the opening game at Lord’s, which was also the farewell game of the veteran James Anderson.

Atkinson wasted no time in making a serious impression, ripping through the tourists’ batting lineup on the opening day at Lord’s with a riveting spell of 745 – the second-best Test haul for any England bowler in a home Test debut game. More wickets fell to Atkinson in the second innings where he claimed another 5-61, as England won by an innings and 114 runs.

Four wickets in Nottingham was followed by six more in Birmingham, as Atkinson scalped 22 wickets during the series at an average of 16.22 and took home the Player of the Series prize. “It is a real privilege to win the ICC Player of the Month! The start to my Test career has been unbelievable, and I never imagined achieving this level of success in my first series with England.”

“I am incredibly grateful to my teammates and the fantastic environment created by Baz (Brendon McCullum) and Stokesy (Ben Stokes). It's an honour to play and represent my country. I know there is a lot of hard work ahead, especially with a big series against Sri Lanka coming up. I'm excited to maintain consistency and do my best to help England succeed,” said Atkinson to ICC.

On the other hand, Chamari has become only the third player to win the Women’s Player of the Month honour on three separate occasions, after Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner and the West Indies’ Hayley Matthews. She won the honour ahead of India’s opening pair Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, who clinched the award in June.

Chamari had a great time in July, as she captained Sri Lanka to beat India and win their first Women’s Asia Cup crown in front of a passionate home crowd at Dambulla. She hit 304 runs during the competition at an average of 101.33 and a staggering strike rate of 146.85.

Among the highlights from her stellar month was an explosive unbeaten 119 in against Malaysia and two crucial half-century scores in the latter stages - the first coming as Sri Lanka edged past Pakistan in a tense semi-final victory, and the second being 61 in the final against India, as the hosts’ chased down 166 successfully.

“I am happy and honored to have been chosen as the ICC Women's Player of the Month for the third time. and it is heartening to see such acknowledgement for my efforts, achieved with the support of my teammates and coaches, being continuously recognized by the cricketing world.""I believe these recognitions will send a positive message to thousands of girls who are already playing cricket in my country and also elsewhere and want to play for their country; that commitment and dedication for the game will one day pay off,” said Chamari.