Steve Smith has joined Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke as a four-times winner of the Allan Border Medal, while Beth Mooney claimed her second Belinda Clark Award at the 2023 Australian Cricket Awards.
The top prizes were a repeat of the 2021 awards when Smith and Mooney took out the top prizes.
The ceremony, at Sydney’s Randwick Racecourse, was the first time Australia’s elite male and female cricketers had gathered together for the awards in three years.
After two years of low-key virtual presentations due to the global Covid pandemic and cricket’s biosecurity protocols, the black tie gala was a star-studded affair, complete with ‘blue carpet’ for players and their partners for the first time since the 2020 event at Melbourne’s Crown Casino.
The top awards for each format were decided by votes from players, umpires and media representatives on a 3-2-1 basis from each match throughout the year. The women’s and men’s domestic players of the year, and the rising star awards are voted on by players.
The awards also included two inductions to the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame, with Ian Redpath and Margaret Jennings in the class of 2023.
You can read more about resolute opener Redpath here, and World Cup-winning wicketkeeper batter Jennings here.
Allan Border Medal: Steve Smith
Steve Smith took home the highest individual honour for an Australian male cricketer after polling 171 votes to be a runaway winner for his fourth Allan Border Medal. Smith finished well ahead of Travis Head (144 votes) and David Warner (141), with Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja making up the top five.
The 33-year-old Smith also won the award in 2015, 2018 and 2021 to join Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke as the only four-time winners of the award. Nobody has won five AB Medals since the award was inaugurated in the year 2000.
Australia’s men played 10 Tests, 17 ODIs and 20 T20 internationals in voting period, taking in tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka mid-year ahead of a hectic home summer that saw three separate ODI series, a T20 World Cup on home soil, and Tests against West Indies and South Africa.
Smith hit Test centuries against Sri Lanka (145no in Galle), West Indies (200no in Perth) and South Africa (104 in Sydney) during a voting period in which he amassed 1,524 runs across the formats.
Belinda Clark Award: Beth Mooney
Having already put the women’s ODI cricketer of the year award under her belt, Beth Mooney underlined her standing with a second Belinda Clark Award.
Mooney, who also claimed the prize in 2021, polled 129 votes to outpace captain Meg Lanning (110 votes) and allrounder Tahlia McGrath (95 votes).
Mooney scored more runs than any other Australian woman across all formats in the voting period, amassing 1,109 at 69.31 – ahead of Lanning (991 at 55.05) and Alyssa Healy (771 at 32.15).
The voting period took in last January’s multi-format Ashes, the 50-over World Cup in New Zealand, the T20 tri-series against Ireland and Pakistan, the Commonwealth Games, December’s T20I tour of India and the ODI leg of this month’s CommBank series against Pakistan.
Mooney is currently ranked second in the ICC’ss ODI and T20I batting rankings and captain Lanning recently paid tribute to her dominance, saying: “I don’t think it matters what format or what position she plays in because she seems to be able to go out there and dominate and perform consistently,” Lanning said. “That’s the difference between her and other players in the world – she does it game after game.”
Shane Warne Men’s Test Player of the Year: Usman Khawaja
Usman Khawaja has capped his second coming as a Test opener by claiming the inaugural Shane Warne Award as the men’s Test player of the year.
Named in honour of the legendary leg-spinner who passed away last March, Khawaja polled 22 votes to win ahead of Marnus Labuschagne (20) and Steve Smith (16).
Khawaja jokingly thanked Travis Head “for giving him a game” – a reference to Head’s injury that saw Khawaja come into the Australian side during the previous summer’s Ashes series
Test votes are heavily weighted in consideration for the overall prize of the Allan Border Medal, but Khawaja has not played for Australia in either limited-overs formats in the past year.
Khawaja was a heavy favourite for the award after a prolific 12 months that saw him score 1,020 runs in the voting period, at an average of 78.46.
Community Impact Award: Usman Khawaja
KFC BBL|12 Player of the Tournament: Matt Short (Adelaide Strikers)
Matt Short has capped sensational back-to-back Big Bash seasons with the Adelaide Strikers since his shift to the top of the batting order to be crowned the BBL|12 Player of the Tournament.
The 25-year-old finished the regular season as the tournament’s top run-scorer with 458 striking at 144.47 to win the award by three votes ahead of Perth Scorchers wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis.
Short’s stunning unbeaten century against the Hobart Hurricanes on January 5 in the highest BBL run chase of all-time was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the season, and he also scored half centuries against the Sixers and Thunder at the beginning of the season.
Weber WBBL|08 Player of the Tournament: Ashleigh Gardner (Sydney Sixers)
First announced back in November at the conclusion of the tournament, Asheligh Gardner was recognised at the awards tonight as the WBBL|08 Player of the Tournament.
Gardner capped off her best all-round Big Bash season in style to take the award, her performances with bat and ball playing a key role in the Sydney Sixers’ dramatic resurgence from wooden spoon to finalists.
Gardner’s season saw her score 339 runs in 13 innings at a strike rate of 153, finishing the regular season fifth on the tournament runs table. Her strike rate was the highest of any player to pass 200 runs, while she hit a league-leading 14 sixes. With the ball, the off-spinner claimed 23 wickets to finish equal top of the wickets tally alongside Adelaide Strikers star Megan Schutt.
Women’s T20 Player of the Year: Tahlia McGrath
An outstanding year in the shortest format has seen Tahlia McGrath crowned Australia’s top women’s T20 star.
McGrath won the award with 31 votes, ahead of Beth Mooney (27) and Ashleigh Gardner on 24.
From her 91no off 49 balls in Adelaide last January in the women’s Ashes, through an excellent Commonwealth Games campaign and her performances against India on a whirlwind tour for the Aussies in December helped her claim the prize.
McGrath, who was named vice-captain to Alyssa Healy with Meg Lanning out of the side, hit 463 runs at 57.87 in the 18 T20s she played in the period, at a strike-rate of 142.02. McGrath also added 13 wickets – with a best of 3-13 – at an average of 14.15 and economy of 7.07.
Men’s T20 Player of the Year: Marcus Stoinis
Middle-order bruiser Marcus Stoinis was named Australia’s T20 player of the year after a season that saw him hit 347 runs at a strike rate of 168.44, as well as taking eight wickets in the 16 games he played.
Stoinis won the award by a single vote ahead of fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, who polled 24 votes, while Matthew Wade and Glenn Maxwell were tied on 21.
Australia’s T20 World Cup defence faltered on home soil but Stoinis was immense in the middle order, earning maximum votes for his 59no from 18 balls that included six sixes against Sri Lanka, and also polled points in games against Ireland and Afghanistan.
Stoinis was not at the award ceremony, having headed to the UAE for a brief four-game stint with the Sharjah Warriors in a T20 league, squeezed in between the end of the Melbourne Stars’ BBL campaign and the resumption of domestic cricket.
Women’s ODI Player of the Year: Beth Mooney
Beth Mooney has narrowly taken out the women’s ODI player of the year, winning by a single vote ahead of captain Meg Lanning .
Alyssa Healy, who hit a world record 170 from 138 balls in the 50-over World Cup final, finished third in the voting with 21.
Mooney’s one-day year started with 73 in the first Ashes ODI at Manuka Oval, and while batting in the middle-order at times limited her opportunities throughout 2022 before she shifted to opener for the recent one-day series against Pakistan, the left-hander made the most of almost every chance she got.
Mooney was dismissed just six times in 13 ODI innings across the voting period, registering scores of 73, 27no, 23no, 30, 28no, 30no, 21, 66no, 43no, 62, 1, 57no, and finally this month’s career-best 133 against Pakistan at Allan Border Field.
Men’s ODI Player of the Year: David Warner
It took a countback to separate David Warner and Steve Smith, who were locked on 25 votes for this tightly-contested award, with that pair one vote ahead of Travis Head.
The award was the first major prize handed out at the 2023 Australian Cricket Awards after votes from players, umpires and media across the 17 matches Australia played in the voting period.
Smith scored 539 at 67.37 in 11 games while a “very surprised” Warner posted 552 runs across 13 games at an average of 42.46. Warner won the tiebreaker because he had polled the maximum three votes in more games – three times to Smith’s one.
Warner polled maximum votes for his 99 in the fourth game against Sri Lanka in Colombo, his 94 in the third game against Zimbabwe in Townsville, and his 86 in the first ODI against England in Adelaide.
Smith polled votes in all but three of Australia home one-dayers played against Zimbabwe, New Zealand and England between August and November, and picked up the maximum three votes for his century against the Kiwis in Cairns in September.
Head blitzed his way to 24 votes – including a trio of three-vote performances – to finish third following his return to the team after the retirement from the format of Aaron Finch. Head scored 550 runs in just nine matches after coming into the side, at an average of 68.75 and an impressive strike-rate of 112.24, with two centuries.
Women’s Domestic Player of the Year: Annabel Sutherland
The pace-bowling allrounder continues to take both facets of her game to new heights and her performances on the domestic circuit across the last 12 months, both for Melbourne Stars and Victoria, were testament to that.
The 21-year-old started the current Women’s National Cricket League in red-hot form, scoring the first century of her elite cricketing career when she smacked 110 not out off 101 balls against South Australia at Karen Rolton Oval.
She followed that up with another ton less than a fortnight later, this time stroking 111 from 114 deliveries against reigning champions Tasmania at Junction Oval.
Tasked with greater responsibility in a Stars line-up missing the experience of Meg Lanning, Sutherland produced a career-best campaign with both bat and ball.
She was the Melbourne club’s leading run scorer, hitting 304 runs at 33.77 including a best of 62 not out, while she also topped their wickets tally, claiming 21 scalps at 18.23.
Men’s Domestic Player of the Year: Michael Neser
The Queensland Bulls and Brisbane Heat stalwart has been recognised by his peers to be named the men’s domestic player of the year.
Neser is the first bowler to win the prize since Jason Behrendorff in 2015, and the first Queenslander since Ashley Noffke in 2008.
He’s formed a potent bowling attack with Mark Steketee this summer for the Bulls, claiming 24 wickets in the first half of the Marsh Sheffield Shield season at a competition best average of 14.50.
It helped earn him a second Test match this summer playing in the day-night Test against the West Indies, taking five wickets for the match.
Neser also has taken 11 wickets in the Marsh One-Day Cup at 15.90, and has enjoyed an excellent KFC BBL|12 with the Brisbane Heat, among the top wicket-takers with 24 scalps so far.
Betty Wilson Young Cricketer: Courtney Sippel
A right-arm quick who made her debut for Brisbane Heat in WBBL|05, Sippel has been steadily growing into one a key new-ball threat in the Heat and Queensland Fire attacks.
Along the way, Sippel has caught the eye of national selectors, named in the Australia A side that played England A last summer and more recently, for the Governor-General’s XI against Pakistan.
The 21-year-old is part of the Queensland talent factory, among a host of rising stars from the northern state alongside Georgia Voll, Charli Knott, Lucy Hamilton and Ruth and Ellie Johnston.
Bradman Young Cricketer: Lance Morris
A firebrand who shot into the frame for Test selection this summer, Lance Morris has enjoyed a meteoric rise on the back of his blistering pace to take out the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year, an award voted on by his peers.
The 24-year-old Western Australian has lit up the Marsh Sheffield Shield in a breakout first-half of the season, bowling at eye-catching pace and leading all-comers on the competition’s wicket-taking charts. But even more important than the wickets, among them being Test players Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne in the same over during a clash at the WACA, has been the buzz that’s accompanied his rise suggesting he might be the fastest bowler in the country.
It has brought him to the verge of a Test debut, having spent a month with the Australian men’s team as a squad member following a surprise call-up this summer, and will now jet off to India for the Border-Gavaskar four-Test clash.
2023 Australian Cricket Awards
Allan Border Medal: Steve Smith 171 votes. Runners-up: Travis Head 144, David Warner 141.
Belinda Clark Award: Beth Mooney 129 votes. Runners-up: Meg Lanning 110, Tahlia McGrath 95.
Shane Warne Men’s Test Player of the Year: Usman Khawaja 22 votes. Runners-up: Marnus Labuschagne 20, Steve Smith 16
Women’s ODI Player of the Year: Beth Mooney 25 votes. Runners-up: Meg Lanning 24, Alyssa Healy 21.
Men’s ODI Player of the Year: David Warner 25 votes. Runners-up: Steve Smith 25, Travis Head 24. *Warner won on a tiebreaker
Female T20 Player of the Year: Tahlia McGrath 31 votes. Runners-up: Beth Mooney 27, Ashleigh Gardner 24
Male T20 Player of the Year: Marcus Stoinis 25 votes. Runners-up: Josh Hazlewood 24, Matthew Wade, Glenn Maxwell 21
KFC BBL|12 Player of the Tournament: Matt Short (Adelaide Strikers)
Weber WBBL|08 Player of the Tournament: Ashleigh Gardner (Sydney Sixers)
Women’s Domestic Player of the Year: Annabel Sutherland
Men’s Domestic Player of the Year: Michael Neser
Betty Wilson Young Cricketer: Courtney Sippel
Bradman Young Cricketer: Lance Morris
Community Impact Award: Usman Khawaja
Australian Cricket Hall of Fame inductees: Ian Redpath and Margaret Jennings
