DUBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday, unveiled the nominees for the Men’s Player of the Month Award for December 2024, including Australia’s Test captain Pat Cummins.p>
Cummins faces stiff competition from India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and South Africa’s Dane Paterson, who played a pivotal role in leading the Proteas to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
The right-arm pacer was instrumental in Australia’s 3-1 series victory over India in the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) as he picked up 17 wickets across three Tests at an impressive average of 17.64.p>
His best bowling performance in December came in the Adelaide Test, where he registered 5/57 to help the hosts to seal a commanding 10-wicket victory.p>
Pat Cummins also made handy contributions with the bat, the highlight of which was his crucial knocks of 49 and 41 in Melbourne Test.p>
Meanwhile, Bumrah, who was India’s standout performer in the BGT, has also been nominated for the prestigious award, thanks to his consistent bowling exploits in the previous month.p>
The right-arm pacer 22 wickets in the three Tests in December at an astounding average of 14.22 and was subsequently named the Player of the Series.p>
His best performance came in the Brisbane and Melbourne Tests, where he picked up nine wickets each and single-handedly kept India in contention to retain the trophy.p>
South Africa’s Paterson was equally impressive in December as the right-arm pacer claimed 13 wickets in two Tests at an average of 16.92.p>
His brilliant bowling figures of 5/71 against Sri Lanka and 5/61 against Pakistan were pivotal in securing the WTC final spot for South Africa.