19-year-old Thai spinner pips Chamari, Harshitha to ICC’s Women’s Player of the Month award

Thailand's 19-year-old left-arm spinner Thipatcha Putthawong was named as the ICC's Women's Player of the Month, beating Sri Lankans Chamari Athapaththu and Harshitha Samarawickrama to the award. 

She helped her country win gold in the South Asian Games, claiming 11 wickets in the tournament at an extraordinary average of just 1.54 runs per wicket and an economy rate of 1.09. 

She took 4/3 against the Philippines, 3/3 against Malaysia and 3/2 against Myanmar. 

Both Athapaththu and Samarawickrama were in excellent form during the recent home series in Bangladesh when the former scored 103 runs at a strike rate of 132 in the a three-match T20I series after scoring a half-century in one of ODIs.

Samarawickrama, meanwhile, made an unbeaten 45 in the final ODI against Bangladesh with scores of 45, 29* and 51* in the three T20I matches between the teams. 

"I am very happy to be recognized as the ICC Women’s Player of the Month," Putthawong was quoted as saying after winning the award.

"I would like to express my gratitude to the Cricket Association of Thailand for my aiding development and always trusting in my abilities."

"I am very honored to be given the opportunity to represent my country and put in important performances during the SEA Games. I would like to express my appreciation to all the voters that contributed to this prize. I will keep trying to develop myself as a cricketer and hope everyone follows my progression and Thailand's success in the future."