SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia run machine Steve Smith clinched his fourth Allan Border Medal on Monday, becoming only the third player, after Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke, to achieve the feat.
Smith polled 171 votes, while nearest rival Travis Head managed 144, to claim Australian cricket’s greatest individual honour which he had previously won in 2015, 2018 and 2021.
Former captain Smith racked up 1,524 runs, which included four hundreds, during the voting period and was crucial to Australia’s rise to number one in the test rankings.
Such was his domination in the two other formats that it did not matter in the end that Smith did not poll a single vote in the T20 Internationals.
Smith will be one of Australia’s key figures as they embark on a four-test tour in India where they hope to secure their place in the final of the World Test Championship.
The 33-year-old has been in strong form in 50-overs cricket too and famously quipped “I’m back, baby” during an ODI against England in November after a successful technique tweak.
He, however, lost the men’s ODI player of the year award to David Warner on countback, while Marcus Stoinis won the T20 honours ahead of Josh Hazlewood.
Opener Usman Khawaja claimed the Shane Warne award for the men’s test player of the year after a prolific 12 months during which he scored 1,020 at an average of 78.46.
Beth Mooney won her second Belinda Clark Award to be crowned Australia’s best women’s cricketer after delivering consistently across all three formats.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Christian Radnedge)
