Marufa nominated for ICC Emerging Cricketer award

Bangladeshi pace sensation Marufa Akter has been nominated for the ICC Women’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year (2023) award along with three other cricketers.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday revealed the list of the nominees keeping two breakout quicks from Bangladesh and England, a classy batter from Australia and a brilliant Scottish all-rounder. 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.

Although Marufa's three-wicket feat against Sri Lanka at the T20 World Cup was a tough act to surpass, the seamer showcased an even more remarkable performance, bowling her team to triumph 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 remains 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.