Top awards to Cummins, Healy
MELBOURNE: Pat Cummins has capped the finest year of his career by winning the Allan Border Medal, edging out Nathan Lyon to be named Australia’s leading men’s cricketer.
The star paceman polled 156 votes to surpass test player of the year Lyon (150) and limitedovers skipper Aaron Finch (146) in Monday night’s count.
Alyssa Healy comfortably won the Belinda Clark Award as Australia’s top women’s cricketer ahead of Megan Schutt and Ashleigh Gardiner.
Allrounder Marcus Stoinis was named men’s ODI player of the year and Glenn Maxwell won the T20 international award.
Both major awards went to firsttime winners, with Steve Smith and David Warner ineligible after a fouryear Border Medal stranglehold.
The suspended duo did not attend the blacktie function in Melbourne and only polled a handful of votes in the matches they had played.
Memories of the Cape Town saga were stirred by Cameron Bancroft being voted Australia’s secondbest player in the same test in which he used sandpaper on the ball. The opener, also ineligible and not in attendance after a ninemonth ban, topscored with 77 in the first innings.
Cummins claimed maximum votes in Cape Town and the fourth test in Johannesburg, which South Africa won by 492 runs.
‘‘I’ve obviously had quite a few tough years with injury. I always thought test cricket was the dream but wasn’t sure I’d get up there and forge a consistent career,’’ he said.
‘‘Going into last summer and the Ashes, five tests — I’d never done anything like it before so, to get through that, I just had a heap of confidence in my body.
‘‘To do it now, two years in a row, it’s been great.’’
Cummins snared 44 wickets at 25.61 across all formats during a 12month voting period which did not include his recent manoftheseries performance against Sri Lanka.
The 25yearold, having climbed to second in the test rankings, will head into the first Ashes test in August on the cusp of reaching 100 test wickets quicker than any other Australian fast bowler since the 19th century.
Healy swept the women’s awards, also being named ODI and T20 player of the year, the wicketkeeperbatter rewarded for her T20 World Cupwinning heroics.
Healy was named player of the Caribbean tournament, scoring 225 runs from five innings. — AAP