Beth Mooney, Steve Smith Claim Top Honours in 2023 Australian Cricket Awards

SYDNEY: Batters Beth Mooney and Steve Smith capped their prolific years with the bat to bag top honours at the Australian Cricket Awards held in Sydney on Monday. Beth claimed her second Belinda Clark Award, following a season where across three formats she amassed 976 runs at an average of 65.1 and a strike rate of 102.6. Beth, the 29-year-old left-handed opener, also took out the Women's ODI Player of the Year, which included Australia's 2022 Women's ODI World Cup triumph in New Zealand, where she scored an unbeaten 62 off 47 balls in the final. In the final Belinda Clark Medal tally, she got 129 votes, ahead of runner-up Meg Lanning (110) and Tahlia McGrath (95) in third place.

Smith joined Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting as the only players to win the Allan Border Medal four times, following a season in which the 33-year-old scored 1547 runs in 32 matches across all three formats at an average of 55.3.

More than half of the runs scored by Smith were in the Test arena, where he amassed 863 at an average of 71.92. In the final Allan Border Medal tally, Smith (171 votes) outpolled Travis Head (144 votes) and David Warner (141 votes). Usman Khawaja took out the Shane Warne Men's Test Player of the Year Award, following an incredible return to the Australian team. Khawaja scored 1020 runs in the voting period at an average of 78.46, hitting three centuries.

Also Read: Bavuma's Match-winning Ton Against England Keeps SA's Automatic 2023 WC Qualification Hopes Alive

Also Watch: