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.
Media
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
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.
2000: Glenn McGrath
2001: Steve Waugh
2002: Matthew Hayden
2003: Adam Gilchrist
2004: Ricky Ponting
2005: Michael Clarke
2006: Ricky Ponting
2007: Ricky Ponting
2008: Brett Lee
20091: Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke
2010: Shane Watson
2011: Shane Watson
2012: Michael Clarke
2013: Michael Clarke
2014: Mitchell Johnson
2015: Steve Smith
2016: David Warner
2017: David Warner
2018: Steve Smith
2019: Pat Cummins
2020: David Warner
2021: Steve Smith
2022: Mitchell Starc
2023: Steve Smith
Ref:
1No count-back is used in the Allan Border Medal.
Multiple winners
Belinda Clark Award
The Belinda Clark Award recognises Australia's best women's international cricketer. 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). 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. 2002: Karen Rolton 2003: Karen Rolton 2004: Cathryn Fitzpatrick 2005: Karen Rolton 2006: Karen Rolton 2007: Lisa Sthalekar 2008: Lisa Sthalekar 2009: Shelley Nitschke 2010: Shelley Nitschke 2011: Shelley Nitschke 2012: Shelley Nitschke 2013: Jess Cameron 2014: Meg Lanning 2015: Meg Lanning 2016: Ellyse Perry 2017: Meg Lanning 2018: Ellyse Perry 2019: Alyssa Healy 2020: Ellyse Perry 2021: Beth Mooney 2022: Ashleigh Gardner 2023: Beth Mooney
Ref:
Multiple winners
Other awards
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. 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.