Lagatar24 Desk
Dubai, Dec 30: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday announced the nominees for the ICC Women’s T20I Player of the year.
Indian opner Smriti Mandhana, Ireland’s Gaby Lewis, England cricketers Tammy Beaumont and Nat Sciver are the four nominees.
The ICC Awards 2021 will recognise the outstanding achievements and feats in cricket over the past year.
Notably, Smriti Mandhana was India’s top run-scorer in the T20I series against England with 119 runs . She was India’s top-scorer in both the matches that India lost, including a 51-ball 70 that went in vain in the final T20I.
Gaby Lewis had a smashing 2021 in the shortest format of the game, finishing as the second-highest run-scorer in T20Is this year. She played a major role in Ireland’s two series wins, bagging the Player of the Match award twice in Ireland’s 3-1 series win over Scotland at home. In both games, she put on scores of 40+ but missed out on much-deserved fifties by the barest of margins.
She also made history at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Europe Quaifier in August, becoming first cricketer from Ireland to score a T20I hundred.
On the other hand, Tammy Beaumont was England’s highest run-scorer in the year in T20Is, and third-highest overall in the world.
Beaumont was the top scorer in a low-scoring series against New Zealand away from home, earning the Player of the Series award for 102 runs in three matches. After losing two wickets in the Powerplay, her 53-ball 63 in the second match put England in a winning position.
Nat Sciver was a key player in all three of England’s series victories this year, finishing as the team’s third-highest run-getter and wicket-taker in T20Is in 2021.
Sciver struck two early blows in the first T20I of the New Zealand tour, dismissing Sophie Devine and Amy Satterthwaite inside the Powerplay. Later, as No.3, she batted through and guided England to victory while chasing a modest total of 97.
She took two wickets in the second game to help clean up the tail and reduce New Zealand to 123. She finished the series with five wickets, tying her for the series lead with three other players.
When India came to visit, she delivered a Player of the Match performance, scoring a half-century and picking up three wickets.
