Sophie Ecclestone adjudged player of the month for June

Ecclestone was nominated for the honours along with Indian duo Shafali Verma and Sneh Rana. While Verma began the England tour with twin fifties on Test debut and followed it with a 44-run knock in the second ODI, Rana’s comeback was a story of grit and determination. She returned with a four-wicket haul on Test debut before playing a useful hand with the bat in the third ODI win for India.

However, Ecclestone picked up four wickets in each of the two innings of the Test – including dismissing Verma in the second innings – and then picked up three wickets in each of the first two ODIs, which were played in June.

“It’s really nice to win this award,” said the left-arm spinner, Ecclestone.

“It’s after a period in which we’ve played all three formats so it feels good to be recognised for my performances in the Test and the white-ball series. We’ve been happy as a team how we’ve performed across this series. We would have liked to have won the Test match but hopefully we can clinch the multi-format series.”

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“It’s all crucial preparation for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand, when we’ll be defending the title we won in 2017, and we feel in a decent place as a team.”

England lead the multi-format series against India 8-6 with one T20I to be played. They won the ODI series 2-1, while the T20Is are level at 1-1. Ecclestone is also the number one ranked T20I bowler as per the ICC Rankings.

“What a month it was for Ecclestone. She compounded India's problems with some magnificent bowling through the series,” said Mpumelelo Mbangwa, former Zimbabwe men’s cricketer, who was a voting panelist.

“There is no doubt that her opponents got sick of having to deal with her as she ensured no place to hide, foxing them with her flight and guile. A quite wonderful month in which she was very influential for her England team.”