Marufa Akter among the nominees of ICC women's emerging cricketer

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday announced the nominees for the Women's Emerging Cricketer of the Year 2023 award.

"Two breakout quicks from Bangladesh and England, a classy batter from Australia and a brilliant Scottish all-rounder make up the nominees for the ICC Women's Emerging Cricketer of the Year award," ICC announced in an official statement.

Australia batter Phoebe Litchfield, Bangladesh pacer Marufa Akter, England's fast bowler Lauren Bell and Scotland batter Darcey Carter are the contenders to win the award.

Litchfield began the year in fine form, scoring successive unbeaten half-centuries against Pakistan in her first two ODIs at home.

Despite being left out of Australia's squad for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup, Litchfield returned to international action in Europe in the middle of the year, producing a Player of the Match performance and her first career century against Ireland in Dublin.

Bangladesh pacer Marufa had only played a few international matches previous to the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in February, but the youngster made an immediate impression in her first big ICC competition.

The right-armer stunned Sri Lanka's batting order by taking two wickets in successive deliveries and three for the match, finishing with remarkable numbers of 3/23 in only her third T20I.

Marufa then claimed the valuable scalp of Beth Mooney in her second T20 World Cup encounter against superpower Australia, concluding the competition with four wickets and a good economy rate of 6.31.

England's fast bowler Bell made huge progress in 2023, becoming England's leading pacer. Bell took three wickets in four outings during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in February and then excelled in all three forms during England's Ashes series against Australia in the middle of the year.

The fast bowler closed the year with a succession of impressive performances as England's pace spearhead on their tour of India, and he appears to be on track for a long and lucrative career in all three forms.

A squad member for Scotland at the inaugural U19 Women's T20 World Cup, Carter was called up to the senior team in July, taking part in a T20I tri-series with Thailand and the Netherlands in Utrecht.

She was part of the Scottish side that advanced to the T20 World Cup Qualifier next year via the European regional final in September, hosted in Almeria, Spain, after scoring notable runs and contributing with her off-spin.

Carter went on to score a confident 45 against Full Members Ireland in a T20I series later that year, as well as earning her ODI debut against the same opponents. Carter took three wickets in the series, which was also contested in Almeria.