The 2014 Allan Border Medal night will held at Doltone House, Elizabeth St, Sydney, on Monday, 20 January and you can follow the live blog for this event live from 5pm AEDT.
The Australian men’s team, the Southern Stars, and the players’ partners will will be able to enter the venue between 5.15 pm and 6 pm local time on Monday, with the winner for not only the Allan Border Medal but also six other awards announced that evening.
The categories of these awards include Test Player of the Year, One Day International Player of the Year, Twenty20 International Player of the Year, Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year, State Player of the Year and Women’s International Cricketer of the Year.
Interestingly, the 2014 Allan Border Medal night will be streamed live at CATV and will be hosted by Nine Network’s Erin Molan, while the actual award ceremony can be watched live on cricket.com.au.
Much like the previous years, the details around the attending players and partners, and their outfits for the night, will only be released on the day of the event.
CA’s chief executive James Sutherland earlier said: “We’ve taken the best elements of previous Allan Border Medals, including the red carpet arrivals, Hall of Fame induction and crowning of Australia’s men’s and women’s cricketers of the year, and given the event a new look this season.”
Australian captain Michael Clarke will be favourite to win the Allan Border Medal and make it five such medals in his career, but the likes of Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris could challenge him there.
Incidentally, Clarke has won this prestigious medal in both 2012 and 2013, having earlier shared it with Ricky Ponting in 2009 and won it for the first time in 205.
It is Clarke’s form in the Test match format of the game that will earn him a chance to also grab the Test cricketer of the year award, ahead of Johnson, Harris and Steven Smith.
Unfortunately for Johnson, his absence from the Ashes series in England could jeopardise his chances.
George Bailey will be a huge favourite to win the ODI player of the year, while Aaron Finch’s win in the T20 cricketer of the year looks all but certain.
In the domestic player of the year category, Cameron White will look to pip the likes of Nic Maddinson, Michael Klinger and Jordan Silk for the award, even as Silk, Sam Whiteman, Ashton Agar and Gurinder Sandhu will be some of those in line for the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year award.
Ellyse Perry will be a heavy favourite for the Women’s International Cricketer of the Year prize.
Join us for the live blog of what should be an interesting 2014 Allan Border Medal function that begins from 5 pm AEDT and post your comments below.
Jo
Guest
What did Luke sing?...and will there be a Youtube or video of his performance that we can see?
Passionate_Aussie
Roar Rookie
At least we are in the position as fans to try and figure out who's more worthy, shows the competition and consistency within the squad is going good.
magickster
Guest
Haddin and Johnson have had the best form of their careers. I wish Haddin had win. It's hard for the Wicky to he recognised, though Haddin played a pivotal role in the Ashes campaign and and now the ODI's.
Passionate_Aussie
Roar Rookie
Congratulations Mitchell Johnson! Great to see you hit back at your critics. Keep up the good work, I know many believe in you. Next milestone is for you to take 300 wickets and score 2,000 runs in test cricket!
Zee
Roar Guru
Yesssss Mitchy. So well deserved ... shove that up to the haters <3
twodogs
Guest
Mitch has fought a good fight. Good times and bad. Persistance and hard work is often rewarded. Savour the moment Mitchell for tomorrow it's back to work!
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Thank you for following this live blog of the Allan Border Medal. I will be back tomorrow with the vital Big Bash League game between the Stars and the Hurricanes. Till then, have a good evening ahead.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
So that's all she wrote then, a recap of all the winners here: Allan Border Medal: Mitchell Johnson Test Cricketer of the Year: Michael Clarke ODI Cricketer of the Year: George Bailey T20 Cricketer of the Year: Aaron Finch Women's Cricketer of the Year: Meg Lanning Domestic Cricketer of the Year: Cameron White Bradman Young Player of the Year: Jordan Silk Hall of Fame inductees: Belinda Clark and Mark Waugh
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Johnson thanks his wife for being so positive during the tough times and his teammates and all those who voted for him. He confirms the 'Mo' is definitely coming back for South Africa, against the wishes of his wife. Brave man. Johnson had 168 votes for him to Clarke's 156.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Final four nominees for the Allan Border Medal 2014 are: James Faulkner, Michael Clarke, Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson... ...and the winner is, surprise, surprise, Mitchell Johnson!
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
The Allan Border Medal to go now. Clarke will be the front-runner. Allan Border has now been called up to the stage.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Yep. And yet, so different from each other in many senses of the word.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Smith, Clarke, Rogers and Siddle were the four players who stood at the top of the pile when the voting for the Test Player of the Year ended and the winner is... ...Michael Clarke! Surprised? Was a narrow win that, with Clarke having 21 votes to the 19, 18 and 17 the other three got.
JGK
Roar Guru
Nice. It really is a remarkable story - twins performing at such a high level in any sport.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Next up is the Test Cricketer of the Year award. Alan Davidson, former Australian all-rounder is up on stage to give away the award.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Thanked everyone and his brothers including Steve, who he said did not want to get out even then. Even I was wondering whether he would, but there was enough mention of him, as much if not more than all the others he did. The video montage had Steve talking lovingly - as lovingly as you can imagine Steve do - about Mark and playing together for the first time and then scoring a century in the same Test.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Belinda Clark will stay back to give away the Women's Cricketer of the Year award. Meg Lanning has won the award, having done well in all formats of the game. Lanning led the Australian team yesterday in their first ODI against England.
JGK
Roar Guru
Any direct mention of Steve?
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Belinda Clarke is the other player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The first women's cricketer to be inducted and Greg Chappell's on-stage to introduce and induct her.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
A short and crisp speech from Waugh, thanking the coaches, teammates and family. Also thanked the likes of McGrath, Warne and even Mark Taylor for making him look good at the other end. Here's that reverse sweep to Tufnell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2VFVOzf41w