The ICC announced on Monday the shortlists of players who are in the running for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month awards for December 2023. “A marvellous fast bowler-captain, a splendid spinner and an outstanding all-rounder feature in the shortlist for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for December 2023,” the ICC stated in a formal statement. In 2023, Pat Cummins, who was captain and won the ODI World Cup, had a great year. He won the ICC World Test Championship, the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, and the Ashes.
Cummins, Australia’s star captain, has had many great moments in 2023. These have put him strongly in the running for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy at the ICC Awards 2023. In December, the best month of the year across all formats came to an end, and Cummins put on another impressive show as Australia’s captain, bowling them to victory in the second Test in Melbourne with ten wickets, including five for 48 in the second innings to secure victory as the match headed for a tense finish. He took 13 wickets in the two Tests, including his 250th in the longer version, and could win Player of the Month for the first time. Taijul Islam of Bangladesh is also happy to be nominated for the first time because of how well he bowled in the series against New Zealand. Islam is also enjoying his first nomination for Player of the Month. The experienced left-arm spinner bowled a key spell that helped Bangladesh win the first Test against the visiting Blackcaps in Sylhet. They lost by 150 runs after taking four wickets in the first innings and then a memorable six for 75. After that, things got better. Even though they lost the second Test, Taijul took five more wickets and was named Player of the Series.
Glenn Phillips of the Blackcaps did a lot of efforts in the last Test between the two teams to tie the series. He is the third person in the running for the December award. Phillips was New Zealand’s best player as they fought hard to win the second game and tie the series at 1-1. Before he did so well in the second Test, Phillips had taken five catches and scored some good runs, but they were not enough. Phillips scored 87 of New Zealand’s 180 runs on a pitch that was hard for batters. He then scored the game-winning 40 as the Blackcaps came back from being 69 for six to make the required target of 137.
