Dubai (UAE), September 5 (ANI): Ireland Women’s captain Gaby Lewis, along with batsman Orla Prendergast, was nominated for the Player of the Month (August) award on Thursday. Sri Lanka Women’s cricketer Harshitha Samarawickrama was also nominated for the same award.

Harshitha Samarawickrama (Sri Lanka)Samarawickrama continued her rise to stardom with a blistering run of scores with the bat in August, with the left-hander dominating both the ODI and T20I series against Ireland.

After an unbeaten performance of 69 against India in late July, Samarawickrama improved his performance on arrival in Dublin, scoring 86 and 65 in the two T20I matches and finishing as the highest run-scorer for either side in the two-match series, as per the ICC.

As if that wasn’t enough, Samarawickrama once again became the highest run-scorer in the three-match ODI series against the Irish, scoring 19, 105 and 48 runs.

Orla Prendergast (Ireland)Although she hasn’t been able to match the runs scored by Samarawickrama, Prendergast has shown off her all-round talents with impressive efforts across all facets of her game in August.

Prendergast contributed 67 runs and two wickets in two matches in the T20I series against Sri Lanka but it was in the opening match of the ODI series that the 22-year-old really shone.

The 22-year-old took figures of 3/25 with the new ball and took two catches to restrict Sri Lanka to 260/8 in Belfast, an innings that went down to the ages as he took 122 runs off just 107 deliveries in a three-wicket win, according to the ICC.

It was no surprise that Prendergast was awarded the Man of the Match award for his performance and he made valuable contributions with the ball throughout the rest of the series, playing a key role in Ireland winning the series 2-1.

Gaby Lewis (Ireland)Lewis shone in the shortest format in August, with the outstanding right-handed bowler recording the highest individual score for Ireland in T20I cricket.

According to the ICC, Lewis put in a dazzling performance from the very first moment in the second T20I match of the series against Sri Lanka at the Pembroke Cricket Club in Dublin, finding the boundary line from the opening over and putting on a match-winning performance of 119 runs off just 75 deliveries.

The 23-year-old hit 17 boundaries and two huge sixes in the match as Ireland posted a strike rate of 173/3 and that proved too much for Sri Lanka as the hosts held on for the win and levelled the two-match series. (ANI)