David Warner wins ICC Men's Player of the Month award for November

Opening batter David Warner won the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men's Player of the Month award for November. He played a starring role in Australia's title-winning campaign in the 2021 T20 World Cup.

Meanwhile, West Indies all-rounder Hayley Matthews secured the Women's Player of the Month award.

David Warner was named the Player of the Tournament in the 2021 T20 World Cup. He hit three half-centuries in the tournament, including one in the final against New Zealand.

Warner slammed 289 runs in seven matches in the tournament at a strike rate of 146.70, out of which 209 runs came from four games in the month of November.

His best knock in the tournament came in Australia's final Super 12 match. Warner smashed an unbeaten 89 off 56 deliveries in a chase of 158 against the West Indies.

He top-scored with a quick-fire 49 against Pakistan in the semi-final. It laid down the platform for a comfortable chase with Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoinis finishing the job.

Warner hit 53 off 38 deliveries in the final as Australia chased down 173 with more than an over to spare. It helped the Aussies pip their trans-Tasman rivals to their maiden T20 World Cup title.

"David Warner was back to his scintillating best" - Russel Arnold

Russel Arnold was part of the voting panel for the Player of the Month awards for November. The former Sri Lankan cricketer said David Warner was back to his best in November, following a challenging few months.

"David was back to his scintillating best during the T20 WC and his aggression at the top of the order was outstanding," Arnold was quoted as saying in the ICC statement.

“His 209 runs at a strike rate of 151 in four innings simply tells the story. There was no recovering from the early onslaught by Warner and his stroke play was pleasing to the eye,” Arnold added.

Warner pipped Abid Ali and New Zealand's Tim Southee to the award.

Hayley Matthews, meanwhile, scored 141 runs in four ODIs and took nine wickets. She registered figures of 4/26 in the match against Pakistan in Karachi.

Irfan Pathan, who was part of the voting panel, was quoted as saying:

“Hayley was the star of the tournament, performing with both bat and ball. Her all-round performance was one of the reasons the West Indies won against Pakistan, and she deserves to be the women’s Player of the Month.”

This was the second time the West Indies all-rounder was nominated for the Player of the Month award. She was pipped by her captain Stafanie Taylor in July.