ICC Cricketer of the Year 2023: Pat Cummins and Nat Sciver-Brunt win honours

Pat Cummins and Nat Sciver-Brunt won the ICC Men’s and Women’s Cricketer of the Year 2023 Awards on Thursday. Nat Sciver-Brunt bagged the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year award (Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award) for a second year running. The England batter edged Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu, and Australia’s Ash Gardner and Beth Mooney for the honour. Sciver-Brunt had a stupendous 2023 in which she scored 894 runs, took nine wickets from 18 games. Her best came in ODI cricket where she scored 393 runs in six matches at an average of 131, which included three centuries. This took her centuries tally to eight, now just one behind England’s national record jointly held by Tammy Beaumont and Charlotte Edwards. In the longest format, she struck two fifties against Australia and India during her two Test outings. The 31-year-old emerged England’s highest run-getter at the Women’s T20 World Cup scoring 216 runs at a strike rate of 141.17. She contributed with a brilliant 77 runs against India to set an England win at Wankhede in December. She also picked up nine wickets. Sciver-Brunt took home the Player of the Series award during the Ashes series against Australia, where she shined brightest during the ODI leg. Cummins, meanwhile, helped Australia win their maiden World Test Championship title while also guiding the Aussies to their sixth ODI World Cup title, with both victories coming against India. Cummins would go onto take 42 wickets in just 11 Tests in 2023, while scalping 17 wickets in 13 ODIs.