Awarded during the Australian Cricket Awards, the Allan Border Medal is considered to be the most prestigious individual prize in Australian men's cricket. First awarded in 2000, the medal is named after former Australian men's captain Allan Border and recognises the most outstanding male Australian cricketer of the past season as voted by his peers, the media and umpires. Votes are cast after each game on a 3–2–1 basis, with a weighting applied to give both One Day International and Test players an equal chance of winning the award.

Allan Border Medal
Awarded forMost outstanding male Australian cricketer of the year
CountryAustralia
Presented byCricket Australia & Australian Cricketers' Association
Hosted byTim Lane
Mel McLaughlin
Jason Richardson
First awarded2000
Currently held byMitchell Marsh (2024)
Most awardsRicky Ponting (4)
Michael Clarke (4)
Steve Smith (4)
Television/radio coverage
NetworkFox Cricket
Seven Network

Media

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Crown Casino Melbourne, home of the Australian Cricket Awards ceremony

The award ceremony itself is a major publicity event and traditionally takes place at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, towards the end of January or the start of February each year. The 2014, 2015 and 2017 ceremonies however, were all held in Sydney. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 and 2022 ceremonies were unable to be held in person and the awards were instead announced as part of the pre-match show for the BBL Finals.

The award ceremony itself, prior to 2019 was broadcast live and screened on the digital channel Nine (2000 to 2010) and 9Gem (2011 to 2018). Since 2019, the event has been televised live on both Fox Cricket and 7mate channels.

Allan Border Medallists

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Five cricketers have won the award more than once. Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke won the award four times, sharing the award in 2009, as well as Steve Smith (4). The other multiple winners include David Warner who has won the award three times, as well as Shane Watson who has won the award twice. Watson also has the highest vote count of 296, with a huge margin of 100 votes in 2011.[1][2]

Ref:[3]

1No count-back is used in the Allan Border Medal.

Multiple winners

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Wins Player Years
4 Ricky Ponting 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009
Michael Clarke 2005, 2009, 2012, 2013
Steve Smith 2015, 2018, 2021, 2023
3 David Warner 2016, 2017, 2020
2 Shane Watson 2010, 2011

Belinda Clark Award

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The Belinda Clark Award recognises Australia's best women's international cricketer.[4] Like the Allan Border Medal, it is presented annually and determined by matches played in the previous twelve-month period (for example: Ellyse Perry was the winner of the 2020 award, based on her performances predominantly taking place in 2019).[5] The award is named after former national team captain Belinda Clark, whom the similarly titled Belinda Clark Medal—given to the New South Wales Breakers Player of the WNCL Season—also honours.[6]

Ref:[3]

Multiple winners

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Wins Player Years
4 Karen Rolton 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006
Shelley Nitschke 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
3 Meg Lanning 2014, 2015, 2017
Ellyse Perry 2016, 2018, 2020
2 Lisa Sthalekar 2007, 2008
Beth Mooney 2021, 2023
Ashleigh Gardner 2022, 2024

Other awards

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During the Australian Cricket Awards, other awards announced include:

  • Shane Warne Men's Test Player of the Year,
  • Women's Test Player of the Year
  • Men's One Day International Player of the Year,
  • Women's One Day International Player of the Year,
  • Men's Twenty20 International Player of the Year,
  • Women's Twenty20 International Player of the Year,
  • Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year,
  • Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year,
  • Male Domestic Player of the Year,
  • Female Domestic Player of the Year,
  • Community Champion Award, and
  • New members of the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame are also inducted on Allan Border Medal night.

Shane Watson won a total of 7 awards which is the most by any player. He is the only player to have won in all formats and all five major awards for male players.[7] Three players won three major awards including the Allan Border Medal in the same year - Ricky Ponting in 2007, Shane Watson in 2011 and Steve Smith in 2015.

Shane Warne Men's Test Player of the Year

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Ref:[3]

Multiple winners

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Wins Player Years
4 Michael Clarke 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014
3 Ricky Ponting 2003, 2004, 2007
2 Steve Smith 2015, 2018
Nathan Lyon 2019, 2024

Men's One Day International Player of the Year

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Ref:[3]

1After counting in the 2006 One Day International Player of the Year award, Andrew Symonds, Michael Hussey, Brett Lee and Adam Gilchrist all drew on 22 votes. On a count-back, the winner would have been Andrew Symonds but he was ruled ineligible because he was suspended for 2 One Day Matches for an off-field indiscretion. On a second count-back Michael Hussey was declared the winner.

Multiple winners

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Wins Player Years
3 Shane Watson 2010, 2011, 2012
David Warner 2017, 2018, 2023
2 Adam Gilchrist 2003, 2004
Ricky Ponting 2002, 2007
Steve Smith 2015, 2021

Men's Twenty20 International Player of the Year

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Ref:[3]

1Not awarded due to only 1 T20I played in 2015.

Multiple winners

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Wins Player Years
3 Shane Watson 2012, 2013, 2017
2 Aaron Finch 2014, 2018
Glenn Maxwell 2015, 2019

Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year

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The Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year Award has been awarded continuously since 1990 and is The Bradman Foundation's principal award of recognition to elite cricketers. To be eligible for the award, the player must be a contracted first-class player, be under the age of 24, and have played not more than 10 first-class matches before 26 January.[8]

Ref:[3]

Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year

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Named in honour of Betty Wilson, one of Australia's great all-rounders, it recognises a female cricketer who, prior to 5 December, was aged under 25 and had played 10 or fewer matches.[9]

Ref:[3]

Male Domestic Player of the Year

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Ref:[3]

Multiple winners

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Wins Player Years
3 Darren Lehmann 2000, 2001, 2002
2 Michael Klinger 2009, 2010
Cameron White 2014, 2017
Shaun Marsh 2020, 2021

Female Domestic Player of the Year

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Ref:[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Watson wins second Allan Border Medal". Cricinfo. 7 February 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  2. ^ "Smith blitz betters Ponting, Clarke". 27 January 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Award winners". cricket.com.au. Cricket Australia. Archived from the original on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  4. ^ "Australian Cricket Awards | Cricket Australia". www.cricketaustralia.com.au. Archived from the original on 19 April 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  5. ^ "Ellyse Perry wins her third Belinda Clark Award". cricket.com.au. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  6. ^ "Awards | Cricket NSW". www.cricketnsw.com.au. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  7. ^ "Watson crowned T20I Player of the Year". cricket.com.au. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  8. ^ "Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year". 6 May 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  9. ^ Jolly, Laura (23 January 2017). "Molineux wins Betty Wilson Award". cricket.com.au. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
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