Smriti Mandhana's 1,659 runs not worthy of Cricketer of the Year Award

Laura Wolvaardt, Chamari Athapaththu, Annabel Sutherland, and Amelia Kerr. These are the four players nominated for the International Cricket Council's Women's Cricketer of the Year Award.

On first glance, it is a pretty looking list.

Wolvaardt scored 1,593 runs across three formats for South Africa, Sri Lanka's Athapaththu accumulated 1,178 runs and picked 30 wickets, Kerr has 651 runs and 43 wickets to her name, while Sutherland scored 579 runs – 210 off which came in a single Test – and scalped 18 wickets in the year.

But on closer inspection, something seems amiss.

A player, with possibly the best returns ever in women's cricket history in a year, is not in contention to win the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.

And who might that be?

A certain southpaw who amassed 1,659 runs across formats this year – the highest women's cricket has ever seen. This includes five centuries and 11 half-centuries in a period of 12 months.

Smriti Mandhana, of course!

Ms. Consistent

Batting at the top of the order, the Indian opener redefined consistency this season.

Apart from a minor blip during India's forgettable campaign at the 2023 ICC Women's T20 World Cup, she was among the runs throughout the year.

Mandhana finished the year as the leading run scorer in both the Women's T20 Internationals and the Women's One Day Internationals. She also went on a run of six consecutive 50+ scores in ODIs.

Mandhana had also notched up a century in the one-off Test match against South Africa in Chennai back in June.

And yet, the 28-year-old Indian vice-captain has mysteriously missed out of a nomination for the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year.

Interestingly, she was not nominated for the ICC Women's T20I cricketer of the year award either.

Make no mistake, Mandhana's efforts were not entirely ignored as her nomination for the ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year is due recognition of her ODI exploits.

But the fact that she wasn't considered for the biggest honour of the year despite being the best batter during the time is baffling to say the very least.

Mandhana surely isn't the one, who would read too much into it – after all, the winners are decided by virtue of fan votes.

But, the International Cricket Council might do well with a rethink.

There have been persistent questions regarding the ICC World Rankings over the last few years and the Mandhana-omission points to the obvious question - can the governing body really afford questions on its year-end awards too?