David Warner honoured with the Allan Border Medal for the third time, Marnus Labuschagne wins 'Male Best Test Player of the Year'
Following his brilliant run in 2019 for the Aussies, opener David Warner has claimed his third Allan Border Medal at the Australian Cricket Awards on Monday. On the other hand, Marnus Labuschagne, who had a breakout season in red-ball cricket last year, earned the Male Test Player of the Year award. The Belinda Clark Medal also went to Ellyse Perry for the third time in her career, winning the title back in 2016 and 2018.
Warner had a memorable year despite having a forgetful outing in the 2019 Ashes. He announced his comeback in style - scoring 647 runs in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 as the second-highest scorer of the competition earlier. Warner then went on to score 335* in 448 balls against Pakistan in the day/night Test in Adelaide. The southpaw also smashed 287 runs in the six T20Is, marking his return to international cricket in grand fashion.
Australia's formidable Test batsman, Marnus Labuschagne, who got named in ICC's Test Team of the Year 2019, went past Steve Smith to win the Male Test player of the Year award. Labuschagne scored the most runs for Australia in red-ball cricket, smashing 1,249 runs at a mammoth average of 83.26 for the side with three centuries.
Batting all-rounder Ellyse Perry also had a memorable 2019, where she had a vital contribution in winning the Ashes for Australia. Her figures of 7/22 against England in the Canterbury ODI were the best figures by any Australian in ODI cricket. She had a remarkable outing against West Indies and Sri Lanka as well.
Limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch and wicket-keeper batsman Alyssa Healy claimed the ODI Player of the Year in the men's and women's category. Shaun Marsh, for his decent domestic season, bagged the Men's Domestic Player of the Year award.
While David Warner also won the Men's T20I Player of the Year, Alyssa Healy, who scored more than 1,000 runs within a year, got the Women's T20I Player of the Year.