Dual Allan Border Medallist Shane Watson admits he craved the chance to show the Australian public what he could do as he battled continuous injuries through the early years of his international career.
Watson on Monday night became the second back-to-back winner in the history of Australian cricket’s top annual individual award, capping a golden night and a banner year for the allrounder.
Watson not only joined Test and one-day captain Ricky Ponting in that exclusive club, he also joined Ponting as the only men to have been named the nation’s best Test player and best one-day international player in the same year.
But the 29-year-old, whose honours underline the huge upswing in his career over the past two years, after a long period in which he feared injury would never allow him to establish himself, said just staying on the field was its own reward.
“It’s been nice to be able to stay on the cricket field for more than a couple of months,” he said.
“The last couple of years have been something I never thought would really happen throughout my cricket career, so it’s been really nice to play as long as I have continuously.
“… It’s an amazing honour to be able to win the Allan Border Medal, but it’s also to play continuous cricket for the last couple of years, which is probably my biggest feat I feel I’ve been able to achieve.”
Watson admitted his earlier injury-prone years and the criticism he copped over some on-field shows of emotion had left him concerned about how he rated in the public’s mind.
“It was something that I really craved, with the issues that I had with my injuries and also some of the ways I carried on in the field as well really didn’t help me out as much,” he said.
“It’s been something that really, probably one of the most satisfying things that has happened over the last couple of years has been to see people really appreciate what I’m able to do.”
As well as claiming the Test and one-day awards, Watson was runner-up to David Hussey for the Twenty20 honour, which all combined to give him the Allan Border Medal by a huge margin to runner-up David Hussey.
The win was a testament not only to his perseverance through injury, but ability now to handle an extreme workload, opening the batting in all three forms of the game, as well as bowling.
He played more matches in total in the game’s three forms (46) than any other Australian team member over the voting period, which ran from February 14, 2010 to February 2 this year.
In other awards, NSW batsman Usman Khawaja was named state player of the year, Blues paceman Trent Copeland the young player of the year and South Australian allrounder Shelley Nitschke the women’s international player of the year.
Former Australian captain Mark Taylor and former allrounder Doug Walters were inducted into the Australian cricket Hall of Fame.
AWARD-WINNERS AT MONDAY NIGHT’S ALLAN BORDER MEDAL CEREMONY:
Allan Border Medal – Shane Watson
Test player of the Year – Shane Watson
One-day International Player of the Year -Shane Watson
Twenty20 Player of the Year – David Hussey
State Player of the Year – Usman Khawaja
Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year – Trent Copeland
Women’s International Player of the Year – Shelley Nitschke
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