Two brilliant all-rounders and a fantastic pacer round off the shortlist for ICC Women’s Player of the Month for March 2023.
Henriette Ishimwe (Rwanda)
Still just 19 years of age, Henriette Ishimwe has already played close to 50 T20Is for Rwanda and once again gave a glimpse of her all-round prowess during March.
Ishimwe started the Nigeria Cricket Federation Women’s International Twenty20 Tournament in great form with a fantastic display with bat and ball against Ghana. After a quickfire 22-ball 32 with the bat, she produced magical figures of 4/4 to reduce Ghana to just 41.
The teenager managed to better her performance against Cameroon with a 33-ball 43 and followed it up with her maiden T20I five-wicket haul and her best bowling figures (5/6) in the shortest format.
Sibona Jimmy (Papua New Guinea)
Papua New Guinea’s Sibona Jimmy played a pivotal role in her team winning the Pacific Island Women’s Cricket Challenge, with the 30-year-old contributing both with bat and ball throughout the tournament.
Jimmy set the tone for the tournament with a fiery 24-ball 41 against Samoa and followed it up with a solid 33 in the next match against Fiji.
The southpaw saved her best performance for the last, putting in a brilliant all-round showing in the final against Vanuatu. Batting first, Jimmy scored a sturdy knock of 37 to lay the foundation for PNG’s total of 132.
Later with the ball, she produced figures of 3/7 from two overs that helped reduce Vanuatu to just 32. She was named the Player of the Match in the Final for her efforts.
She ended the tournament with 127 runs from five matches and six wickets with her right-arm off-breaks at a miserly economy rate of 2.26.
Joining Sibona Jimmy in the ICC Women’s Player of the Month shortlist is her teammate Ravina Oa. Ravina too was key to PNG winning the Pacific Island Women’s Cricket Challenge, finishing the tournament as the leading wicket-taker with 10 scalps.
The right-arm pacer recorded her best figures of the tournament (3/5) in the very first game against Samoa. Bowling in different phases of the match through the tournament, Ravina proved to be effective in all of them.
The 27-year-old picked up at least one wicket in every game. In the final, she got a wicket off the very first ball of Vanuatu’s chase, putting them on the back foot immediately.
