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Steve Smith shocked as he reclaims Aussie crown in big Allan Border Medal win
AUSTRALIA
Steve Smith has reclaimed the highest individual honour in Australian men’s cricket.Source: Supplied
Steve Smith has reclaimed the highest individual honour in Australian men’s cricket, winning his third Allan Border Medal on Saturday night having narrowly missed out last year.
The gun batsman hadn’t won the award since 2018 after David Warner edged him out by a single vote last year despite playing an Ashes series for the ages.
Now Smith has climbed back to the top of the pile after winning 126 votes – 12 more than the second-placed Pat Cummins, and 29 ahead of Aaron Finch in third. Marnus Labuschagne was fifth with 84 votes.
“I was a bit surprised,” Smith said about winning the AB Medal. “I don’t know, I didn’t feel like I had the biggest Test summer, which I think holds the most votes. I think my one-day cricket was pretty good last year, so I obviously got a lot of votes there.
“I didn’t expect it. I thought Marnus or Pat Cummins were probably the front runners because they both had exceptional years.
“I’m thrilled, plenty of hard work has gone into it.
“I’m just really honoured to have won my third and hopefully I can keep producing results for Australia and win as many games as we can.”
Smith made the most runs for Australia across all formats in the voting period with 1,098 at 45.75, including four half centuries and four tons.
Only Finch enjoyed a higher batting average (944 runs at 47.20), while only Smith and the Australian white ball captain surpassed 900 runs. Labuschagne was third on the list with 899 runs at 44.95.
Cummins was named Test Player of the Year, but was narrowly beaten to the Allan Border Medal after taking 41 wickets at 27.60 across all formats. Adam Zampa was second on the wicket-taking list with 38 at 23.60.
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Smith’s strongest format was in ODI cricket — he was also named men’s ODI Player of the Year for his 568 runs at 63.11 — which Australia featured in the most with 13 matches inside the voting period.
He started 2020 with a string of strong away ODI performances, making 98 and 131 in India followed by 76 in the first 50-over match against South Africa.
The 31-year-old then missed the ODI series against England later in the year, but consecutive centuries against India on home soil in November allowed Australia to win the 50-over series this summer.
One of Smith’s finest knocks, however, came in January as he broke a 16-month Test century drought by scoring 131 against India at the SCG.
Nonetheless, Smith only came fourth in the Test Player of the Year race, behind Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and last year’s winner, Labuschagne.
In T20 cricket, Smith featured nine times and was Australia’s second-highest scorer with 217 runs at 27.12.
THE ALLAN BORDER MEDAL VOTES
1 Steve Smith 126
2 Pat Cummins 114
3 Aaron Finch 97
4 Josh Hazlewood 91
5 Marnus Labuschagne 84
6 Adam Zampa 77
7 Ashton Agar 59
8 David Warner 56
9 Mitchell Starc 54
10 Glenn Maxwell 52
2021 AUSTRALIAN CRICKET AWARDS WINNERS
Allan Border Medal – Steve Smith
Belinda Clark Award – Beth Mooney
Men’s Test Player of the Year – Pat Cummins
Men’s ODI Player of the Year – Steve Smith
Women’s ODI Player of the Year - Rachael Haynes
Women’s T20 Player of the Year – Beth Mooney
Men’s T20I Player of the Year – Ashton Agar
Community Impact Award – Josh Lalor
Men’s Domestic Player of the Year – Shaun Marsh
Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year – Will Sutherland
Women’s Domestic Player of the Year – Elyse Vilanni
Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year – Hannah Darlington
Australian Cricket Hall of Fame – Johnny Mullagh, Merv Hughes and Lisa Sthalekar
