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DUBAI, UAE – Ireland Women’s 23-year old all-rounder Orla Prendergast has been announced as the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for August 2025 – becoming the fifth Irish women to receive the honour.

The Award aims to celebrate the stand-out performers and moments from the past month of international cricket. Previous Irish winners of this Award are Eimear Richardson (August 2021), Laura Delany (October 2021), Arlene Kelly (August 2023) and Amy Hunter (January 2024) – Harry Tector (May 2023) also won the men’s award.

Prendergast was named the Player of the Series in a home T20I series against Pakistan that her team won 2-1. She compiled 144 runs and took four wickets in the series. She continued her run of form in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier, where the Pembroke all-rounder made 244 runs at an average of 48.80 and a strike rate of 127.08 and took seven wickets.

Speaking from the UK where she is playing for the Blaze in the 2025 Women’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup, Prendergast said:

“I’m delighted to have received this award and would like to extend my thanks to the ICC and anyone who voted for me. I’d also like to acknowledge my teammates and our support staff who have worked hard all summer to come away with some important series wins.

“The T20I series win against Pakistan was the highlight of the summer. Additionally, we had a brilliant series T20i and ODI win against Zimbabwe and completed a clean sweep at the European T20 Qualifiers. We’ll be looking to build on these performances into our winter series and the Global T20 qualifiers in January.

“Personally, though, this Award means a lot and further validates the decision I made 5 years ago to pursue cricket as a career. When I was growing up, that wasn’t an option. But today, a young girl is able to see women’s cricket being played live, on TV or online. Visibility is so important in growing interest and participation in the sport, and equally, Awards like this one help to reinforce that growing status of the women’s game globally. So, I’d like to thank the ICC for continuing to back women’s cricket and raise the profile of women cricketers around the world.”

ABOUT THE AWARDS

The ICC Player of the Month Voting Process:

• The three nominees for either category are shortlisted based on performances from the first to the last day of each calendar month. The shortlist is then voted on by the independent ICC Voting Academy* and fans around the world. The ICC Voting Academy comprises prominent members of the cricket fraternity including well-known journalists, former players, broadcasters and members of the ICC Hall of Fame. The Voting Academy submit their votes by email and hold a 90 per cent share of the vote. Fans registered with the ICC can vote via the ICC website, accounting for the remaining 10 per cent. Winners are announced every second week of the month on ICC’s digital channels.