Smith, Mooney take top honours at Australian Cricket Awards

Beth Mooney and Steve Smith have capped prolific years with the bat to take out top honours at the Australian Cricket Awards held in Sydney tonight.

Mooney 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.

The 29- year-old also took out the Women’s ODI Player of the Year, which included Australia’s 2022 ICC Women’s World Cup triumph in New Zealand, where Mooney scored an unbeaten 62 off 47 balls in the final.

Tahlia McGrath was voted the Women’s T20I Player of the Year after an incredible 12 months in the shortest format. McGrath averaged 62.14 with the bat and just 12.84 with the ball across the voting period, in which the Australian team lost only one match.

In the final Belinda Clark Medal tally, Mooney polled 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 where the 33-year-old scored 1547 runs in 32 matches across all three formats at an average 55.3. More than half of these runs were scored 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, including three centuries.

In addition to being the leading run-scorer in men’s Test Cricket for Australia in 2022, Khawaja’s off-field contributions also earned him recognition with the Community Impact Award. The Australian opener’s Usman Khawaja Foundation helps young people from disadvantaged communities by providing educational and cricketing opportunities.

Warner claimed his third Men’s ODI Player of Year, after scoring 552 runs at the top of the order at an average of 42.5. Warner scored four half-centuries and one hundred in 13 matches.

Marcus Stoinis took out the Men’s T20 International Player of the Year for the first time, with the all-rounder striking at an incredible 168.5 within the voting period. In addition to his 347 runs at an average of 31.6, Stoinis also claimed eight wickets.

Australia’s top domestic cricketers were also acknowledged with ACA peer-voted awards. Queensland’s Michael Neser and Victoria’s Annabel Sutherland taking out the Men’s and Women’s Domestic Player of the Year Awards, which includes matches in all formats.

Courtney Sippel and Lance Morris were recognised as the Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year and the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year, respectively. Both awards are also ACA peer-voted and highly regarded. To be eligible for the Young Cricketer of the Year Awards, players must be 24 years or less prior to the commencement of the award period and have not won the award previously. Prior to the award period, male players must have played 10 or fewer first-class matches and 25 or fewer combined List A and BBL matches, and female players 25 or fewer matches.