Aussie superstar takes out top gong at closed-door event
Australian batter Travis Head has taken out the Allan Border Medal for a second straight-year during a closed-door function on Friday night.
Head scored 1437 runs during his 30 matches in the voting period across all formats, pipping Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc for the top award.
Travis Head wins the Allan Border Medal. Cricket Australia
Starc won the Shane Warne Test Player of the Year award after a stellar 12 months with the red ball, taking 57 wickets at an average of 24.
Photos showed what was a rather low-key event for what used to be Cricket Australia’s night of nights, with Head wearing a T-shirt and jumper.
The ceremony was not broadcast on television or streamed online and there was no footage of Head’s speech after the win was announced - despite him seemingly finding out of the achievement months ago during the tour of Sri Lanka.
“It’s very nice to have AB here,” Head said in a video posted to social media.
“It’s a little bit different to have Ronnie [head coach Andrew McDonald] do it in Colombo somewhere in the middle nowhere. It’s obviously a huge honour and for one of the greats of the game to be here tonight, I’m very privileged.”
Border, the beloved former Australian captain, admitted he wanted to see the awards night named in his honour return to relevance in future years.
It was postponed due to scheduling conflicts, with the Belinda Clark Medal - the top honour for the women - given out in February at a separate ceremony.
In the other main awards, Mitchell Marsh took out the ODI Player of the Year, while the big-hitting Tim David won the T20I Player of the Year award.
Australia will begin the two-game Test series against Bangladesh on Thursday.
