Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson are the leading chances in Monday night’s Allan Border Medal count, which recognises Australia’s best player of the past year.
One is the star who failed on the biggest stage, while the other is yet to fail in his rush to make up for lost time.
Johnson enjoyed such a strong start to 2009, with his left-arm fast bowling and lower-order hitting so successful in South Africa a year ago, he was crowned the International Cricket Council’s player of the year despite a poor Ashes series.
He made up for the Ashes debacle, where at one stage he barely hit the pitch at Lord’s, with a strong home summer in the Tests against the West Indies and Pakistan, and took 112 wickets, with 775 runs, in all games during the voting period.
The Ashes were also significant for Watson, as it was during that series he showed the first signs he could make it as a specialist opener in Tests when brought in for the dropped Phillip Hughes in the third Test at Edgbaston.
Apart from a duck in the first Test against the West Indies in Brisbane in November, Watson enjoyed an outstanding home Test season where his only problem was reaching three figures, until he got there against Pakistan at the MCG.
In all, Watson scored 2,081 runs and claimed 50 wickets with his medium pace in 38 games (both Tests and one-day internationals).
Watson also enjoyed an outstanding year in the one-day side, but his biggest problem in the overall award will be the fact he only played nine Tests to Johnson’s 14, given the five-day games carry heavier weighting in voting.
Neither of the allrounders have won the award, which is now in its 11th year.
Skipper Ricky Ponting, a four-time winner, enjoyed a solid year; Michael Clarke, who won in 2005 and shared last year’s award with Ponting, was his side’s best Test batsman; and Mike Hussey was his side’s most productive one-day batsman despite his lean Test pickings until his century at The Oval.
While the mix of votes from Tests and one-day matches can complicate voting, the night will also feature more straight-forward categories.
Johnson, Clarke and opener Simon Katich will vie for honours in Test player of the year, while Watson and Hussey are the main fancies for the one-day player award.
Top-order batsmen Chris Rogers of Victoria and South Australia’s Michael Klinger are among the candidates to win the state player award.
A win for either would be their second, as Rogers won in 2007 with Western Australia, while Klinger won last year.
Allrounder John Hastings could be a bolter given his breakthrough season for Victoria and could also challenge for the young player award, along with NSW trio Steven Smith, Moises Henriques and Usman Khawaja.
The Australian women’s award is also likely to be won by an allrounder, either Shelley Nitschke or Lisa Sthalekar, both previous winners.
Factbox for Monday night’s Allan Border Medal count.
ALLAN BORDER MEDAL
Voting (players, umpires and media) is cast from the period between Feb 4 2009 and Feb 12 2010. For the overall award, players can earn a maximum six votes from every game. Voting is weighted towards the fewer Test matches, and all Australian players are eligible. Votes are polled from the following matches:
Tests
Three v RSA (away) in Feb-March 2009 (Aust won 2-1); five v Eng (away) July-Aug (Eng won 2-1); three v WI (home) Nov-Dec (Aust won 2-0); three v Pak (home) Dec-Jan 2010 (Aust won 3-0)
One-day internationals
Three v NZ (home) Feb 2009 (Aust won 2-1); five v RSA (away) April (RSA won 3-2); five v Pak (away) April-May (Aust won 3-2); one v Scot (away) Aug (Aust won 1-0); seven v Eng (away) Sept (Aust won 6-1); four in Champions Trophy (away) Sept-Oct (Aust won 4-0); six v Ind (away) Oct-Nov (Aust won 4-2); five v Pak (home) Jan 2010 (Aust won 5-0); two v WI (home) Feb (Aust won 2-0)
LEADING RUN-SCORERS (all matches)
Ricky Ponting 2,341 @ 44.17 (45 matches)
Mike Hussey 2,167 @ 47.11 (49)
Michael Clarke 2,154 @ 50.09 (41)
LEADING WICKET-TAKERS (all matches)
Mitchell Johnson 112 @ 27.61 (44 matches)
Nathan Hauritz 80 @ 29.66 (46)
Peter Siddle 57 @ 32.61 (28)
PREVIOUS WINNERS
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
2009 Ricky Ponting & Michael Clarke (shared)
TEST PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Leading run-scorers
Simon Katich 1,114 @ 48.43 (13 matches)
Ricky Ponting 1,109 @ 46.21 (14)
Michael Clarke 1,053 @ 52.65 (14)
Leading wicket-takers
Mitchell Johnson 65 @ 28.25 (14 matches)
Peter Siddle 43 @ 31.63 (13)
Nathan Hauritz 39 @ 28.18 (nine)
ONE-DAY PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Leading run-scorers
Mike Hussey 1,257 @ 54.65 (35 matches)
Ricky Ponting 1,232 @ 42.48 (31)
Shane Watson 1,232 @ 49.28 (29)
Leading wicket-takers
Mitchell Johnson 47 @ 26.72 (30 matches)
Nathan Hauritz 41 @ 31.07 (37)
Shane Watson 37 @ 21.30 (29)
WOMEN’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Leading run-scorers in all matches (Test, one-day and Twenty20)
Shelley Nitschke 913 @ 33.81 (27 matches)
Karen Rolton 629 @ 34.94 (24)
Jodie Fields 495 @ 38.08 (24)
Leading wicket-takers
Lisa Sthalekar 43 @ 16.70 (26 matches)
Sarah Andrews 29 @ 19.93 (22)
Shelley Nitschke 28 @ 26.21 (27)
STATE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Leading run-scorers (Sheffield Shield and one-day matches)
Chris Rogers (Vic) 1,494 @ 53.36 (22 matches)
Michael Klinger (SA) 1,455 @ 63.26 (20)
Brad Hodge (Vic) 1,348 @ 67.40 (18)
Leading wicket-takers
John Hastings (Vic) 54 @ 23.57 (19 matches)
Daniel Christian (SA) 45 @ 30.60 (20)
Ben Cutting (Qld) 44 @ 29.25 (16)
BRADMAN YOUNG CRICKETER OF THE YEAR
Leading run-scorers (Sheffield Shield and one-day matches)
Usman Khawaja (NSW) 910 @ 65 (10 matches)
Moises Henriques (NSW) 688 @ 34.40 (18)
Steven Smith (NSW) 643 @ 64.30 (12)
Leading wicket-takers
John Hastings (Vic) 54 @ 23.57 (19 matches)
Ben Cutting (Qld) 44 @ 29.25 (16)
Jake Haberfield (SA) 36 @ 31.92 (18)
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