Sri Lankan cricketers Dunith Wellalage and Harshitha Samarawickrama have been selected as the ICC Players of the Month for August 2024. Sri Lanka has won a rare double, with Wellalage thriving in a home ODI series against India and Harshitha shining on a tour of Ireland.
This is only the second time that players from the same country have won the award in the same month, after India’s Jasprit Bumrah and Smriti Mandhana in June 2024.
Wellalage won the title over South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj and the West Indies’ Jayden Seales due to his Player of the Series performance.
He contributed significantly to Sri Lanka’s 2-0 series triumph over India, scoring 67*, 39, and 2 runs and taking seven wickets, notably a 5/27 haul in the third ODI.
This is the fifth time a Sri Lankan male cricketer has won the award. Past winners include Angelo Mathews, Prabath Jayasuriya, Wanindu Hasaranga, and Kamindu Mendis.
Harshitha Samarawickrama, who beat Ireland’s Orla Prendergast and Gaby Lewis, became the third Sri Lankan woman to record an ODI century. This honour comes just a few weeks before the Women’s T20 World Cup.
