Bangladesh women’s team’s pace sensation Marufa Akhter has been nominated for the International Cricket Council Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year for stellar performances throughout the year of 2023.
World cricket’s governing body announced the first four shortlists in the ICC Awards 2023, highlighting the outstanding performers in contention for the men’s and women’s Twenty20 International Cricketer of the Year Awards, and the Emerging men’s and women’s Cricketer of the Year Awards.
The ICC Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year category features four stellar up-and-coming talents in women’s cricket.
Marufa, England’s Lauren Bell, Scotland’s Darcey Carter and Australia’s Phoebe Litchfield are named as the four leading contenders for the crown after they enjoyed remarkable form last year.
Right-arm pacer Marufa was brilliant for Bangladesh in 2023 as she took nine One Day International wickets at an average of 24.77 and 10 T20I scalps at 23.3.
Marufa in 2023
Marufa had only played a handful of international matches prior to February's ICC Women's T20 World Cup, but the teenager made an instant impression in her first major ICC tournament.
The right-armer caused a major scare in Sri Lanka's batting order as she picked up two wickets in consecutive balls and three for the match while collecting impressive figure of 3/23 in just her third T20I appearance.
Marufa then got the prized scalp of Beth Mooney in her next match at the T20 World Cup when taking on powerhouse Australia, before finishing the tournament with a total of four wickets and a tidy economy rate of 6.31.
The 18-year old further impressed in white-ball matches on home soil against India during the middle of the year and became one of the first players picked in Bangladesh's side towards the end of 2023 during series against Pakistan and South Africa.
Marufa’s memorable performance
While hard to top Marufa's three-wicket haul against SrI Lanka at the T20 World Cup, the seamer produced an even more impressive performance when bowling her team to victory in the first ODI against India in Mirpur in July.
Bangladesh only managed a miserly 152 with the bat and had to bowl India out to have any chance of victory and Marufa picked up four massive wickets to guide her side to a memorable 40-run (Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method) victory.
Marufa's figure of 4/29 that day remain her best in international cricket so far, but if she continues on her upward trend it's likely there will be more big hauls to come.
Fans are now able to vote for their favorite T20I and Emerging players at www.icc-cricket.com.
Fan voting results will be combined with selections made by the ICC Voting Academy to identify the winner in each of the shortlisted categories.
Winners of the ICC Awards 2023 will be announced later in January.
ICC Awards 2023 – the shortlists revealed till Wednesday
Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year: Mark Chapman (New Zealand), Alpesh Ramjani (Uganda), Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe), Suryakumar Yadav (India)
Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year: Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka), Sophie Ecclestone (England), Hayley Matthews (West Indies), Ellyse Perry (Australia)
Emerging Men’s Cricketer of the Year: Gerald Coetzee (South Africa), Yashasvi Jaiswal (India), Dilshan Madushanka (Sri Lanka), Rachin Ravindra (New Zealand)
Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Marufa Akter (Bangladesh), Lauren Bell (England), Darcey Carter (Scotland), Phoebe Litchfield (Australia)