Sri Lanka's Wellalage, Samarawickrama clinch ICC Player of the month awards for August
Sri Lanka's Dunith Wellalage and Harshitha Samarawickrama won the ICC players of the month award for August 2024. Wellalage bagged the award for his all-round performance in the ODI series against Indian men's cricket team. Meanwhile, top order batter Samaracickrama hit purple patch in Sri Lankan women's team's tour of Ireland.
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The only previous instance of players from the same nation winning the awards in the same month was when India's Jasprit Bumrah and Smrithi Mandana were named the Players of the Month in June, 2023.
Wellalage, hit 108 runs and scalped seven wickets to win the Player of series award against India. The 21-year-old scored 67 not out and followed it up by claiming crucial wickets of India captain Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill in the first ODI that ended in a tie in the absence of Super Over.
In the second ODI, Wellalage made another crucial contribution of 39 runs, coming in at No.7, helping Sri Lanka post a total of 240. The visitors were folded for just 208, and Sri Lanka took a 1-0 lead in the series.
And then, Wellalage produced his best performance in the third and final match of the series at R. Premadasa Stadium. The left arm spinner took five wickets for just 27 runs in 5.1 overs as India's chase ended at 138. The hosts won by 110 runs. He singlehandedly derailed India's star studded batting lineup, taking the priced wickets of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.
Samarawickrama, on the other hand, edged out Irish duo of Orla Prendergast and Gaby Lewis to win the award. The 26-year-old had a fine run on a tour of Ireland, becoming only the third woman cricketer from Sri Lanka to score a century in ODIs.
The left-handed batter scored 151 runs in the two T20Is played in Dublin at a strike rate of 169.66, which included a match-winning 86 not out off 45 balls in the first match. She smashed 172 runs in the three ODIs at a strike rate of 82.69, including a 105 in the second match. In the final ODI, the No. 3 batter, scored 48 not out to steer Sri Lanka to a eight wick victory.