Allan Border Medal: Live updates, blog
Roar Guru By Suneer Chowdhary, 27 Feb 2012 Suneer Chowdhary is a Roar Guru
Michael Clarke will be favourite to win the Allan Border Medal and we will bring you all the live updates from the Melbourne’s Crown Casino from 8.30 pm AEDT tonight.
In the considered period, Clarke has the statistics to back his ‘favourite’ tag, what with the 1167 runs scored at a near-70 average in Test match cricket to go with his record as a captain.
There was a match-winning century at Colombo, a 151 that towered over the rest at Cape Town against South Africa and a more recent triple-century versus India at the SCG. He topped all of that with a double century in against the same opponent.
Clarke’s ODI record has been excellent too. While his only century during the voting period came against Bangladesh, he averaged 121 in five innings in Sri Lanka and has been equally adept in the home series against India and Sri Lanka.
Michael Hussey could run Michael Clarke close. He had ended up as the man-of-the-match in all the three Test matches of the series in Sri Lanka and while his form tapered off a little in the series against South Africa and New Zealand that followed, he came back well against India.
Hussey could be one of the favourites for the Test Player of the Year award.
In the ODI Player of the Year categories, Shane Watson could jump into the fray but his injury-related issues have caused him to miss most of the recent games.
Earlier, Watson had smashed a 185 not out against Bangladesh in Dhaka, which broke the previous record for most sixes by an Australian in an ODI and may give Clarke a run for his money.
The other categories at tonight’s awards include T20 Player of the Year, State Player of the Year, Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year, Women’s Cricketer of the Year:
The previous winners of the Allan Border Medal are as follows:
Glenn McGrath, Steve Waugh, Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting (4), Michael Clarke (2), Brett Lee, Shane Watson (2)
You can read here about how the Allan Border awards are calculated.
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Click here to hear the thoughts of our Australian cricket team as they left for England.
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The Crowd Says (51) | Page 1 of Comments
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10:24pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 10:24pm | Report comment
That is it from me then…Clarke fans will rejoice at his third Allan Border Medal, becoming only the second player after Ricky Ponting to win at least three.
10:18pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 10:18pm | Report comment
So here is the final list of the awards:
Allan Border Medal: Michael Clarke
Test Player of the Year: Michael Clarke
ODI Player of the Year: Shane Watson
T20 Player of the Year: Shane Watson
State Player of the Year: Rob Quiney
Young Cricketer of the Year: David Warner
Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Shelley Nitschke
10:27pm
Red Kev said | 10:27pm | Report comment
Seems like a decent list of winners, shame Wade didn’t play more T20s as I think he might have edged Watson if they both played all games.
10:15pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 10:15pm | Report comment
…and the winner is on expected lines again, Michael Clarke again!
Clarke gets 231 votes to Michael Hussey’s 174 votes for the Allan Border Medal.
10:14pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 10:14pm | Report comment
Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson are the four contenders for the Allan Border Medal.
10:14pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 10:14pm | Report comment
Allan Border on stage to give away the Allan Border Medal for the Year.
10:11pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 10:11pm | Report comment
Hussey, Ponting and Pattinson were nominated for that Test Player of the Year award, but Clarke, to me, rightly deserved the award.
10:14pm
Stoffy18 said | 10:14pm | Report comment
There is only so much of this commercialised nonsense that i can take.. Time to channel surf before they announce the inevitable!
10:07pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 10:07pm | Report comment
Yep, Michael Clarke it is, winning the Test Player of the Year award!
10:03pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 10:03pm | Report comment
Playing out all the Tests played in this period. Hussey and Clarke stand out, but some good performances by the likes of Ricky Ponting, Pat Cummins, Peter Siddle, James Pattinson and Ben Hilfenhaus…
9:58pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 9:58pm | Report comment
Now we are on to the Test Player of the Year award.
The two Michaels, Hussey and Clarke will be in reckoning for this one. I think Clarke should edge out Hussey here…
9:53pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 9:53pm | Report comment
So to sum up the awards so far for those those just joining in, Shane Watson has won both, the T20 and the ODI Player of the Year award, apart from Rob Quiney winning the State Player of the Year.
The Young Cricketer of the Year went to David Warner while Shelley Nitschke has won the Women’s Cricketer of the Year.
The Test Player of the Year and the Allan Border Medal still to come.
9:46pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 9:46pm | Report comment
Warne’s on the stage, thanking all the influences on his cricketing career. The late Terry Jenner, his coach and Ian Chappell, Allan Border and Mark Taylor.
No mention of Steve Waugh obviously.
11:21pm
Dubble Bubble said | 11:21pm | Report comment
Ha Ha.I was listening to his speech and was waiting to see how he would go about avoiding mentioning him. No one has ever accused Warne of being subtle!
9:42pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 9:42pm | Report comment
Mark Taylor and Doug Walters were inducted into the Hall of Fame last year. Garth McKenzie and Bill Lawry before that. Steve Waugh in 2009.
9:37pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 9:37pm | Report comment
Richie Benuad introduced Warne into Australian Cricket’s Hall of Fame, making him the 35th Australian in that elite list.
9:33pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 9:33pm | Report comment
Shane Warne was inducted into the Hall of Fame there.
Earlier, Hall of Fame chairman David Crow said in a statement, “He revived leg-spin, combining accuracy with variety and enormous turn, even on unhelpful pitches. It was the timing of his performances in addition to his sheer weight of wickets that further underlined his legendary status.”
9:25pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 9:25pm | Report comment
And for those who doubt the credentials of this power-hitter at the top of the innings, rel=”nofollow”>here is something to revisit
10:25pm
Red Kev said | 10:25pm | Report comment
Not that I doubt the value of Watson in limited overs cricket, but highlights against Bangledesh are hardly a strong argument.
9:21pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 9:21pm | Report comment
Watson was expected to run Clarke close for the AB Medal and by winning those two awards (T20I and ODI Player of the Year), he has made it interesting.
Remember, all the formats count towards the AB Medal, although with varying weights.
9:20pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 9:20pm | Report comment
Shane Watson!
Watto wins the ODI Player of the Year award.
9:29pm
Renegade said | 9:29pm | Report comment
Picked this one easily, anyone who disagrees clearly has short term memory….he carried the team for 18 months leading into the tour of South Africa.
9:19pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 9:19pm | Report comment
No, it is neither Hussey, nor Clarke or Ponting. It is…
9:17pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 9:17pm | Report comment
So we move on now, to the ODI Player of the Year. This is moving quicker than a T20 game!
David Hussey? Ricky Ponting? Michael Clarke? What’s your choice?
9:14pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 9:14pm | Report comment
The other clause in that Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year category was that the player needed to play less than 10 first-class matches at the start of the voting period. Warner had played only four!
9:25pm
Lolly said | 9:25pm | Report comment
Hardly anyone apart from him could win. Only a first or second year player could win at all. That sounds daft with so many young kids around the Shield. A 21 year old like Faulkner has played comparatively a lot of matches already.
9:08pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 9:08pm | Report comment
A bit of a break before we get down to our next category.
Watson and Wade had both ended with five votes and with the countback not working for them, the players were awarded points based on their runs, wickets, catches and run-out assists.
Watson edged Wade out there…he made 119 runs to Wade’s 115 to go with his two wickets and two catches. Wicket-keeper Wade could not pick up a wicket obviously and had one catch and one run-out assist to leave Watson the winner.
9:12pm
Lolly said | 9:12pm | Report comment
Ok, that makes sense though for all the fuss about him, he hasn’t done THAT much overall for the number of matches he has played. It’s a shame that James Pattinson has not played much as he has so far been very solid in almost every match in every format he’s played.
9:15pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 9:15pm | Report comment
Yeah Lolly, the issue is that Australia played only six T20Is in the voting period – which will invariably give rise to ties like these.
9:03pm
gus said | 9:03pm | Report comment
Gotta say surprised they even have an award for t20 (although bbl 2012 best comp to watch to date) compared to test cricket & ODI cricket the ratios of skill vs luck just aren’t there occasionally you see a good game but there’s something to be said for bad games I spose it’s here to stay so I guess the award is to, test cricket all the way
8:59pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 8:59pm | Report comment
And Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year award goes to Dave Warner, who has been around for some years but does he qualify to win it?
I thought you can be up to 24 to win this one.
Ricky Ponting presented that one to his (Test) teammate…
9:04pm
Lolly said | 9:04pm | Report comment
He was born in 1986 according to the CA website. Or are his record wrong?
9:10pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 9:10pm | Report comment
According to the rules, the player must be 24 or younger at the beginning the voting period, which was in February 2011. Warner was 24 at that time.
8:56pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 8:56pm | Report comment
Shelley Nitschke has won the Women’s Cricketer of the Year award. It is called the Belinda Clark Women’s Cricketer of the Year award and Nitschke has made it four wins in a row now!
Presented by Belinda Clark herself…
The question though is, did she deserve to win it?
8:53pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 8:53pm | Report comment
Moving on, Rob Quiney has won the Domestic Player of the Year award!
8:52pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 8:52pm | Report comment
Warner played many more games than Watson but did not do a lot in those matches which I guess tilted the balance in the all-rounder’s favour.
8:50pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 8:50pm | Report comment
Shane Watson, who is a two-time winner of the Allan Border Medal, wins the T20 Player of the Year award…he had a couple of half-centuries against Sri Lanka and South Africa and also bowled a few good spells.
8:46pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 8:46pm | Report comment
Oh yes, so it is Shane Watson after all! Missing those two games against India did not make too much of a difference then.
8:44pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 8:44pm | Report comment
Shane Watson has a decent chance of winning the T20 player of the year…will Dave Warner or someone else pip him to the post?
8:42pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 8:42pm | Report comment
Quite appropriately, Adam Gilchrist will present the T20 player of the year award. Wonder what would have happened to the T20 records had T20 been invented in the 1990s, when Gilchrist first played international cricket!
8:40pm
gus said | 8:40pm | Report comment
So who’s won what?
10:13pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 10:13pm | Report comment
Gus, so far, Clarke’s won the Test player of the Year, Watson has won both, the ODI and T20I cricketer.
The State Player of the Year: Rob Quiney
Young Cricketer of the Year: David Warner
and Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Shelley Nitschke
8:40pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 8:40pm | Report comment
The award ceremony has begun with the vote for the T20 cricketer of the year award…
8:38pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 8:38pm | Report comment
Just to give you the background, the Allan Border medal was first awarded in 2000 and Glen McGrath was its first recipient. Ricky Ponting is the only Australian cricketer to have won it four times while both, Michael Clarke and Shane Watson have won it twice.
8:34pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 8:34pm | Report comment
Rebecca Judd will host the evening with Brendon Julian.
8:39pm
Lolly said | 8:39pm | Report comment
Better hope that Warner doesn’t win any awards then or Slats might do something inappropriate on stage.
8:19pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 8:19pm | Report comment
The players and their WAGs have made it to the Melbourne’s Crown Casino. We are about 15-20 minutes away from the first award of the night I guess.
8:15pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 8:15pm | Report comment
In the meantime, do let me know if you think the odds on favourite Michael Clarke will be usurped in any of the three categories, AB medal, Test and ODI player of the year?
8:26pm
Behold said | 8:26pm | Report comment
Michael Hussey for Test and AB medal
Shane Watson ODI player.
8:14pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 8:14pm | Report comment
The first award to be announced will be the T20 International Player of the Year, followed by the Domestic Cricketer of the Year.
These two will be followed by the Belinda Clark Award and the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year. The ODI Player of the Year will be next before the Hall of Fame inductees for the year will be unveiled.
The last two will be the most prestigious awards of the evening, the Test Player of the Year and then the Allan Border Medal.
Stay tuned for the updates!
8:09pm
Suneer Chowdhary said | 8:09pm | Report comment
Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the Allan Border Medal night.
Apart from the most prestigious Allan Border Medal, there will be six other awards, Test Player of the Year, ODI Player of the Year, T20 Player of the Year, State Player of the Year, Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year and Women’s Cricketer of the Year.