New Zealand opening batsman Devon Conway and England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone have been named as the ICC Players of the Month for exceptional performances in the month of June. "Conway won the award ahead of team-mate Kyle Jamieson, who was the Player of the Match in the WTC (World Test Championship) final against India, with South Africa’s Quinton de Kock the other nominee for his fine performances on their tour of the West Indies," the International Cricket Council (ICC) said in a statement.
Conway, who made his debut in Test matches against England at the Lord's played three matches in the longest format of the game in June and scored 379 runs in six innings, including a double hundred on his debut and currently average 63.17 in the format.
By the virtue of this win, Conway also became the first player from New Zealand to win the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award, after a fabulous start to his Test career, which included a fifty in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against India.
"I am truly honoured to win this award. That I have received it for my performances in Test cricket makes it extra special. Scoring a double century at Lord’s was a dream come true for me and to have also been able to contribute to our win over India in the ICC World Test Championship final is something that I know I will proudly look back on in years to come," Conway said in a statement.
From the girls, it was left-arm orthodox spinner Sophie Ecclestone to bag the award for her outstanding performances in three matches she played in June including the only Test against India and two ODIs. She took 8 wickets in two innings of the Test match and six wickets -- three each in two ODIs. Ecclestone pipped Indian duo of Shafali Verma and Sneh Rana and become the second England women's cricketer to bag the award, after opener Tammy Beaumont, who won the award in February.
Speaking on the honour, Sophie said, "It is really nice to win this award. It is after a period in which we’ve played all three formats so it feels good to be recognised for my performances in the Test and the white-ball series.
“We’ve been happy as a team how we’ve performed across this series. We would have liked to have won the Test match but hopefully we can clinch the multi-format series. It’s all crucial preparation for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand [in 2022], when we’ll be defending the title we won in 2017, and we feel in a decent place as a team," she added.
