Steve Smith took home three awards including the prestigious Allan Border Medal, Test Player of the Year and One Day International Player of the Year
Steve Smith won the prestigious Allan Border Medal and was also honoured with the Test and One Day International player awards at the Allan Border Medal ceremony in Sydney.
Smith was a runaway winner for the Allan Border Medal, polling 243 votes, well ahead of David Warner with 175 and Mitchell Johnson with 126. The 25-year-old hit 1756 runs in 22 matches last year at an average of 67.54 including eight 50s and seven hundreds.
Steve Smith’s remarkable 12 months made him the third player to win the trifecta, following in the footsteps of Ricky Ponting in 2007 and Shane Watson in 2011. He became the 10th recipient of the award, joining the illustrious list of winners which also includes Glenn McGrath, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke.
“I’m really enjoying my time playing One Day cricket at the moment,” Smith said.
“I think where playing some good cricket at the moment, we’re building some good momentum up and I think with tournament play you need to be playing your best cricket at the end of it. So we’re certainly looking forward to (the World Cup).”
Smith started his rise quietly during the back-to-back Ashes series, before exploding this summer against India with four centuries in as many Tests.
He’s the first man in history to ever score a century on both his Test and ODI debuts as captain.
Sean Abbott awarded the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year award
The emotional high-point of the night came when Sean Abbott was named the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year.
The NSW allrounder has shown immense courage and maturity to bounce back from the tragic death of Phillip Hughes during a Sheffield Shield match in November.
Western Australian emerging quick Jason Berendorff was crowned domestic player of the year award after claiming 64 wickets in 23 matches in all forms of the game, 18 more than his nearest rival.
Glenn Maxwell was named T20 player of the year.
Meg Lanning was named women’s cricketer of the year after a dominant year with the bat.
Allan Border Medal Winners
The full winners’ list from the 2015 AB Medal awards ceremony:
Allan Border Medal: Steve Smith
Test Player of the Year: Steve Smith
ODI Player of the Year: Steve Smith
Twenty20 Player of the Year: Glenn Maxwell
Belinda Clarke Award: Meg Lanning
Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year: Sean Abbott
Domestic Player of the Year: Jason Berendorff
