The International Cricket Coucil (ICC) has announced an awards system for every month, starting from this year.

The ‘Player of the Month’ will recognise some of the best performances in international cricket by both male and female cricketers.

Previously, ICC used to award after every year or decade. India’s Virat Kohli and Australia’s Ellyse Perry dominated the past decade awards.

“The ICC Player of the Month is a great way to connect with fans of the sport and celebrate performances of their favourite players through the year. It gives us all an opportunity to acknowledge world class performances on the field by male and female cricketers and they have been in abundance throughout January,” ICC General Manager Geoff Allardice said.

ICC Awards Nomination Committee will name three nominees for each category. Fans will be able to vote via the ICC website on the first day of each month. However, 90% of the votes will be shared from former players, broadcasters and journalists.

The awardees will be announced on the second Monday of every month. This means the January awards will be named on February 8.

Some of the notable performances in January 2021 were- Joe Root’s twin tons including a double in Sri Lanka, Shakib Al Hasan’s player of the series performance vs West Indies, Rishabh Pant’s Sydney and Gabba heroics, Paul Stirling’s three hundreds on the tour of UAE and more.