Sandeep Lamichhane and Heather Knight win ICC Player of the Month award for September

Nepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane and England skipper Heather Knight have been voted winners of the ICC Player of the Month for September. Lamichhane beat some strong competition from Bangladesh left-arm orthodox Nasum Ahmed and USA’s hard-hitting batter Jaskaran Malhotra — who themselves delivered some scintillating performances in the month of September.

Lamichhane had a stellar month, coming up with some staggering performances during the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2. He played six ODIs, scalping 18 wickets at an average of 7.38 and an economy of 3.17 and was the stand-out bowler during the tournament.

Two of his notable performances came against Papua New Guinea with match figures of 4/35 and 6/11. His other memorable showing was against Oman, where he registered figures of 4/18. Sandeep has been playing cricket constantly even when international cricket isn’t going on for Nepal. He features in the T20 leagues and keeps performing which helps him in contributing to the team.

As for his international career, he has so far played 16 ODIs and 26 T20Is and has accounted for 41 and 47 wickets respectively. He will be hoping to continue in the same vein and help Nepal win a lot of matches.

Heather Knight rewarded for her show with the bat

England captain Heather Knight was voted the Women’s Player of the Month, beating some stiff competition from her teammate Charlie Dean and South Africa’s Lizelle Lee.

Knight was pivotal in England’s ODI series victory against New Zealand at home, making some telling contributions. She scored 214 runs at an average of 42.80 and was also tidy with the ball, scalping three wickets at an economy of 4.66.

Her two classy showings with the bat came in the first and the fourth ODIs. She played an innings of 89 in the first match while notching up a magnificent century in the fourth contest, with a knock of 101. As the captain, her tactical decisions were also on point, as England won the five-match series 4-1.