Watson claims second Border medal

 

Shane Watson has confirmed his standing as Australia's most valuable cricketer by winning a second successive Allan Border Medal in Melbourne on Monday night.

The 29-year-old became the first player since captain Ricky Ponting in 2006-07 to claim the country's most prized individual cricket award in back-to-back years.

Watson proved why he was the raging-hot favourite going in by turning the medal race at Crown Casino into a one-act affair, pollling 295 votes to finish 100 ahead of runner-up Michael Hussey (195), with Mitchell Johnson (193) third.

"It's very overwhelming to receive these awards tonight, it's a true honour to win the Allan Border Medal," Watson said.

Watson thanked his family including wife Lee Furlong during his acceptance speech and paid tribute to the support of Cricket Australia's medical staff for keeping the once injury-plagued cricketer on the field.

"It was something I didn't think was really going to happen a couple of years ago," Watson said.

"To get the opportunity to open the batting in Test cricket was something that I never thought would happen. It's just nice that it came along at a time I felt that I was in a really good place with my batting especially. It's been nice to continue to stay on the park for the last year and a half. For me that's the biggest thing I have been able to achieve."

He led Australia's run-scorers through all three forms of the game with 2067 runs at an average of 39.00 and his 47 scalps at 26.53 saw Watson ranked fourth on the overall wicket-takers tally.

In addition to the top gong, Watson enjoyed an awards bonanza by taking home the Test and One-Day International Player of the Year awards.

Watson was crowned the premier Test player for the first time by virtue of his 847 runs at 44.58 and 16 wickets at 29.25, polling 14 votes to finish four clear of bowler turned all-rounder Johnson.

While pleased to win the award, Watson admitted series losses to India and England had tempered his success.

"It's a pity it wasn't in better circumstances with the way that our Test cricket worked out this year, seeing the highlights brings back some not so good memories, some nice personal ones there, but you play to win and that unfortunately wasn't the most successful year we've had," Watson said.

Watson's limited-over exploits saw him edge out Michael Clarke by one vote to win his second straight One-Day International Player of the Year award.

He was Australia's leading scorer for the 12-month voting period with 859 runs at 40.90, highlighted by his brilliant 161 not out at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the opening Commonwealth Bank Series match against England.

Not only that, but Watson was the third highest wicket-taker thanks to 20 wickets at 26.60.

Watson's hopes of a clean sweep of the four international awards was stopped by David Hussey, who took home the inaugural Twenty20 International player of the year.

The Victorian, who attracted a $1.4 million bid from Indian Premier League outfit Kings XI Punjab last month, polled 12 votes to beat his Bushrangers team-mate Cameron White and Watson (10) in a tight count.

Hussey hit 346 runs at an average of 24.71 and strike-rate of 119.31, while his off-spin conjured nine wickets at 17.67.

"You've got to think clearly under pressure. Twenty20 cricket tests your skill against the bowler to clear the boundaries and I enjoy that contest," Hussey said.

Recent Test debutant Usman Khawaja proved a dominant winner of the State Player of the Year award.

The 24-year-old New South Welshman polled 35 votes, a stunning 23 ahead of runner-up Andrew McDonald (Victoria), to become the 10th batsman in 12 years to be successful in the award.

The prolific left-hander amassed 952 runs at 59.50 in the voting period, highlighted by a career-best 214 against South Australia last October.

Khawaja's Blues team-mate Trent Copeland was rewarded his stunning debut first-class season with the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year.

Copeland's haul of 55 wickets at 23.60 saw him earn 44 votes and beat promising Queensland batsman Chris Lynn by 17 votes.

South Australian all-rounder Shelley Nitschke created history when she completed a hat-trick in the Women's International Player of the Year award.

The 34-year-old scored 760 runs at 30.40 and took 34 wickets at 17.68 during the past 12 months to poll 76 votes, with Lisa Sthalekar the runner-up on 50.

Former Australian captain Mark Taylor and legendary NSW batsman Doug Walters were the 2011 inductions into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.

Allan Border Medal
Shane Watson 295, Michael Hussey 195, Mitchell Johnson 193, Michael Clarke 174, Cameron White 121, Brad Haddin 98, David Hussey 90, Ricky Ponting 87, Doug Bollinger 84, Marcus North 72, Steve Smith 68, Simon Katich 60, Shaun Tait 57, Ryan Harris 56, Peter Siddle 54, James Hopes 51, David Warner 38, Brett Lee 33, Dirk Nannes 28, Shaun Marsh 24, Clint McKay 23, John Hastings 20, Xavier Doherty 18, Nathan Hauritz 15, Aaron Finch 12, Mitchell Starc 12, Tim Paine 12, Ben Hilfenhaus 6, Stephen O'Keefe 6, Dan Christian 2.