Williams misses out on Player of the Month award

CHEVRONS star all-rounder, Sean Williams missed out on making history and becoming the second Zimbabwean to win the prestigious International Cricket Council (ICC) Player of the Month award.

Williams was nominated for the Player of the Month for June but lost to record breaking Sri Lankan spinner, Wanindu Hasaranga. The other player nominated together with Williams and Hasaranga was Australian batter, Travis Head.

Williams’ nomination came after the 36-year-old has been enjoying a purple patch during the recently ended 2023 Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers which took place in Zimbabwe.

He was a shining light for Zimbabwe and from the seven innings in the Qualifiers, he has scored a massive 600 runs at an average of 100 per match. However, in the month of June when he played five matches, Williams scored 532 runs at an average of 133, coming from three centuries against Nepal, the United States of America (USA) and Oman, and came at a staggering strike rate of 148.60. He scored 91 more runs in the Chevrons’ win over the Netherlands.

His June tally became the third-most runs scored in five consecutive ODI innings, with Indian great, Kohli and Pakistan stalwart, Babar Azam making the top two.

Hasaranga became the first spinner in history to take three consecutive five-wicket hauls in ODI cricket, setting Sri Lanka on course for qualification to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India which starts on 5 October.

The voting was conducted among a specialist panel comprising ICC Hall of Famers, former international players, media representatives and global cricket fans registered at icc-cricket.com. – @brandon_malvin