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The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday, August 12, revealed the ICC Players of the Month for July 2024 as England’s Gus Atkinson and Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu.
Atkinson enjoyed a fruitful start to his international career in the longest format, spearheading England’s bowling attack as they swept the West Indies in their ICC World Test Championship series on home soil last month.
Athapaththu was once again an integral figure to Sri Lanka’s success in July, leading from the front with dominant batting displays as her side produced a historic title-winning campaign in the Women’s Asia Cup.
ICC Men’s Player of the Month Atkinson made his first blistering steps in the Test match arena last month, outlining his credentials as potential successor to the departing James Anderson with fiery fast bowling spells as England secured the 3-0 series win.
The 26-year-old’s impressive start was capped by 22 wickets during the series at an average of 16.22 as he took home the Player of the Series prize.
The pacer wasted no time in making his mark, ripping through the tourists’ batting lineup on the opening day at Lord’s with a supreme spell of seven for 45 – the second-best Test haul for any England bowler in a home Test debut. More wickets fell to Atkinson in the second innings where he claimed another five scalps for 61 runs.
Four wickets in Nottingham was followed by six more in Birmingham thanks to Atkinson’s sharp, accurate bowling as England surged to victory and claimed valuable momentum in the ICC World Test Championship standings.
Atkinson becomes the first English winner of the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award since Chris Woakes won in July 2023.
Reacting to his award win, the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for July, Gus Atkinson, commented: “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.”
ICC Women’s Player of the Month Athapaththu has celebrated many personal accolades recently, and in July, added team silverware to her growing list of honours as Sri Lanka overcame India to win their first Women’s Asia Cup crown.
The skipper 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.
She saved her most important contribution for the final, where, alongside Harshitha Samarawikrama, she hit 61 to help Sri Lanka recover from a slow start to chase down 166 and seal an historic victory in Dambulla and cue memorable celebrations.
The award win sees Athapaththu become only the third player to win the Women’s Player of the Month honour on three separate occasions, emulating Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner and the West Indies’ Hayley Matthews.
(With Inputs from Press Release)
