Mitchell Starc, Ashleigh Gardner bag top honors at Australian Cricket Awards

Mitchell Starc and Ashleigh Gardner have bagged top honors at the annual Australian Cricket Awards. Starc won the Allan Border Medal given to Australia's leading male cricketer, beating Mitchell Marsh by one vote. He thus became just the fifth fast bowler in 22 years to win the award.

Gardner, meanwhile, picked up the Belinda Clark Award given to the country's leading female player. She pipped Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy.

The award winners were decided by votes from players, umpires and media representatives and were announced during the lunch break of the Women's Ashes Test in Canberra on Saturday.

In a 12-month period for the men's side that featured a majority of T20Is and only a handful of Tests and ODIs, Starc got 107 votes with Marsh bagging 106 votes and Travis Head 72.

Starc was part of Australia’s victorious T20 World Cup 2021 campaign and did reasonably well in West Indies and Bangladesh even as the second-string team struggled. However, the high-point for the 31-year-old was the Ashes at home. With questions being asked about his place in the team, Starc answered critics by claiming 19 wickets at an average of 25.37.

The left-arm seamer was also named Men's ODI Player of the Year for taking 11 wickets, including five in a match against West Indies.

Marsh was named Men's T20 Player of the Year for a phenomenal 12 months during which he also won the Player of the Match in the T20 World Cup final for his unbeaten 77. The Australian smashed 627 runs from 21 T20 games to garner 53 votes.

Travis Head was named the Men’s Test Player of the Year award. He scored brilliant tons in the first and fifth Ashes Tests. Head got 12 votes from four games, beating Scott Boland (10) and Starc (7).

Ashleigh Gardner poses with the Belinda Clark Award. Pic: Getty Images

The Australian women's side featured in just one Test match, six ODIs and six T20s during the voting period. Gardner won 54 votes to win the Belinda Clark Award ahead, beating Beth Mooney (47) and Alyssa Healy (39).

Gardner smashed her maiden Test fifty against India in October and scored an unbeaten 73 off 43 balls in a T20I against New Zealand last March. Healy won the Women’s ODI Player of the Year award. The wicketkeeper-batter scored 267 runs at an average of 44.50. Mooney was awarded the Women’s T20 award for the second year in a row.

Earlier, men's team head coach Justin Langer as well as women's cricket legend Raelee Thompson were inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.

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2021-22 Australian Cricket Awards

Allan Border Medal: Mitchell Starc

Belinda Clark Award: Ashleigh Gardner

Men's Test Player of the Year: Travis Head

Women's ODI Player of the Year: Alyssa Healy

Men's ODI Player of the Year: Mitchell Starc

Women's T20 Player of the Year: Beth Mooney

Men's T20 Player of the Year: Mitchell Marsh