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Allan Border Medal night will be dominated by Shane Watson

6th February, 2011
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6th February, 2011
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Firstly, congratulations to former Australian captain Mark Taylor and the larrikin Aussie legend Doug Walters who will be inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame at the 2011 Allan Border Medal night tonight.

Not exactly the Oscar Award night, the Allan Border Award extravaganza is the next best thing in Australian cricket. Only I wish it was shorter. Like the cricket seasons in recent years, the presentations seem to go on and on and on.

There are just too many awards for one night and too much talk and thank you’s and acknowledgments for everyone — parents, wives, girl friends, coaches, mates…

Hope Michael Slater does not sing this time! And no rock music, pleeeeeease!

There are six award categories:

– Test Player of the Year
– Limited Overs Player of the Year (50-over ODIs and T20 internationals)
– International Women’s Player of the Year (ODIs, T20Is and one Test)
– Best State Player of the Year (Sheffield Shield, Ford Ranger / Ryobi Cup)
– Bradman Young Player of the Year and
– Allan Border Medal for performances in 11 Tests, 25 ODIs and 14 T20Is.

The individual votes of players are combined after each match and a collective 3-2-1 vote cast. The umpire and media votes are also combined with a collective 3-2-1 vote cast for the group. These votes are aggregated and the top three nominated players are allocated votes for this award.

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The voting period for this award is 14 February 2010 to 2 February 2011.

2011 TEST PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Previous winners:
2000 Glenn McGrath, 2001 Colin Miller, 2002 Matthew Hayden, 2003, 2004 and 2007 Ricky Ponting, 2005 Damien Martyn, 2006 Shane Warne, 2008 Brett Lee, 2009 Michael Clarke and 2010 Simon Katich.

Who will win this year?

Australia played 11 Tests in this period. In batting, Shane Watson, Mike Hussey and Simon Katich are strong candidates; Watson scoring most runs, 847 at 44.58, Hussey 831 at 43.74 and Katich 685 at 45.67.

In bowling — surprise, surprise — Mitchell Johnson leads with 38 wickets at 34.45 and Doug Bollinger 23 at 28.04. Watson is fifth best with 16 wickets at 29.25.

My prediction: Shane Watson will be the 2011 Test Player of the Year.

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LIMITED-OVERS INTERNATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Previous winners:
2000 Shane Warne, 2001 Glenn McGrath, 2002 and 2007 Ricky Ponting, 2003 and 2004 Adam Gilchrist, 2005 Andrew Symonds, 2006 Mike Hussey, 2008 Matthew Hayden, 2009 Nathan Bracken and 2010 Shane Watson.

Who will win tonight? Shane Watson scored the most runs in this period, 859 at 40.90 with a magnificent 161 not out at the MCG.

Michael Clarke has the best average of 51.36 (scoring 719 runs). Bollinger took most wickets, 25 at 29.96, Ryan Harris has the best bowling average, 19.88 (capturing 24 wickets). Watson is third, 20 wickets at 26.60.

My prediction: Shane Watson will be the LOI Player of the Year.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR

This is awarded to the most outstanding Australian female cricketer in Test, ODIs and T20Is over the past 12 months.

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Previous winners: 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006 Karen Rolton, 2004 Cathryn Fitzpatrick, 2007 and 2008 Lisa Sthalekar, 2009 and 2010 Shelley Nitschke.

With 760 runs at 30.40 (highest score 113 not out) and 34 wickets at 17.68 in all matches in this period, Shelly Nitschke looks set for a unique hat-trick to win her third title in a row.

This column is getting too lengthy so I’ll let you watch who wins the State Player of the Year and the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year on Channel 9 tonight.

Now to the Climax. Drum roll…

THE ALLAN BORDER MEDALIST FOR 2011

Previous winners: 2000 Glenn McGrath, 2001 Steve Waugh, 2002 Matthew Hayden, 2003 Adam Gilchrist, 2004, 2006 and 2007 Ricky Ponting, 2005 Michael Clarke, 2008 Brett Lee, 2009 Ricky Ponting & Michael Clarke (joint) and 2010 Shane Watson.

Sorry, if I sound like a broken record, but Shane Watson is my choice as the Allan Border Medal winner, being the only one to record 2,000 runs in this period (2,067 at 39.00), next best being Mike Hussey with 1,616 runs at 43.68.

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Watson also took 47 wickets (5th highest) at 26.53.

Roarers, who do you think will wear the Allan Border Medal tonight? And is the Awards Night too lengthy or just right?

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