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Smith, Perry claim top cricket honours

Steve Smith with Allan Border after winning the 2015 Allan Border Medal at the Carriageworks in Sydney, Jan. 27, 2015. (AAP Image/Nikki Short)
12th February, 2018
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Steve Smith and Ellyse Perry have dominated the major awards at Australian cricket’s Allan Border Medal night.

Smith’s outstanding year meant the Australian captain won his second Border Medal as well as a second Test player of the year award.

Perry also won the Belinda Clark Award for the second time as the top Australian women’s player.

They were hot tips to take out the two major awards and the voting at Monday night’s function in Melbourne reflected their domination.

Smith previously won the medal in 2015 and becomes the fifth player to win it more than once.

Smith polled 246 and his vice-captain David Warner, who had won the previous two Border Medals, was well behind on 162.

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon rounded out the top three on 156.

Smith captained Australia to the 4-0 Ashes series win this summer and also starred in last year’s 2-1 Test series loss away to India.

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He posted his highest Test score of 239 in the third Ashes Test.

Perry similarly crowned her stellar year with a double century.

Her 213no in November’s Ashes Test is the third-highest women’s Test score and an Australian record.

She polled 116 votes, comfortably clear of Beth Mooney’s 78, while Megan Schutt was third on 65.

Perry previously won the Belinda Clark Award two years ago.

Smith amassed 1754 runs in 24 Tests and one-dayers at an average of 67.46 during the voting period, from January 8 last year to January 8 this year.

Lyon’s 62 wickets – the most by any Test player in world cricket during the voting period – made him a chance for the Test player category.

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But Smith beat Lyon 32 votes to 16, adding to his 2015 win in the category.

Smith scored a whopping 1305 runs in 11 Tests at an average of 81.56 with six centuries.

Warner was next on the Test runs aggregate – 420 runs behind him.

Smith said resilience was key to his own form and the Australian team’s progression to their Ashes triumph.

He said Australia’s draw against India in the third Test at Ranchi and their Ashes draw at the MCG showed their fighting qualities.

“You always want to play to win, sometimes it’s just not possible,” he said.

“But showing the fight and determination to get through those moments and show resilience … that’s what we’re all about.

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“We’ve made some really big strides in those areas.”

While Smith’s Test form was outstanding, he is determined to improve in one dayers.

“For my standards, I had a pretty poor one-day year and it perhaps reflects a lot of the results we’ve had in one-day cricket,” he said.

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