Matthews wins third ICC Player of the Month award

LONDON, England (CMC):

West Indies Women captain Hayley Matthews has won a third International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Player of the Month award, following her outstanding all-round performances in the recent white-ball series against Pakistan Women.

The stylish 26-year-old right-hander plundered two hundreds in the three-match One-Day International series to finish with 325 runs at an average of 162, while also taking six wickets, as the Caribbean side pulled off a whitewash in Karachi last month.

Matthews returned in the five Twenty20 Internationals to gather 205 runs at an average of 41 and take another six wickets, to steer her side to a comfortable 4-1 series win.

The Player of the Month award for the Barbadian follows those she won in October 2023 and November 2021.

“I am really happy to win the award again. These performances resulted in the team’s success, and that’s the most important thing for me as captain,” said Matthews.

“To win in Pakistan was always a big goal. I wanted to perform well and contribute to the team’s success, so to be able to have performances and get the results, that was really good and showed that the hard work and the concentration in Pakistan paid off.”

She continued: “Being able to set some new records and achieve some new milestones as well was good for me, so I’m extremely happy. We have confidence, and we will take this with us going into the tour of Sri Lanka and look to secure more crucial points in the ICC Women’s Championship.”

Matthews, already a veteran of 83 ODIs and 93 T20Is, beat out competition from Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu and South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt.