Such was Clarke’s dominance in the Test arena, he still polled well ahead of his teammates in the award for Australia’s best cricketer in all three forms of the game, despite no longer player T20s and appearance in just over half of his team’s 50 over matches.
Clarke polled 198 votes ahead of the retired Mike Hussey and Shane Watson, who tied for second with 165 total votes.
Characteristically Clarke chose to deflect the focus from his individual achievements onto his team.
“It’s nice to win an Allan Border Medal and it’s just as special as the first one, but I’d like to see the team up there winning awards more than individual players,” he said.
Clarke, who also married Kyly Boldy this year, scored 1080 runs in nine matches between February 25, 2012, and January 28 when the votes were tallied. He averaged 77.1 and tallied a record 1595 runs for 2012.
He singled out his axing from the Australian team in 2005 as a turning point in his career.
“It was a tough time when I got dropped from the Test team, but I think that’s probably the time in my life when I realised I had to work a lot harder than I was to stay in the Australian team,” Clarke said.
“When I got dropped, scoring one run seemed a long way away, let alone winning an AB Medal.
Clarke, of course, also won the Test player of the year award with 22 votes, ahead of Hussey on 15 and keeper Matthew Wade on 12.
Making Clarke’s achievements more remarkable, his triple and double-centuries against India came before the voting begun.
He now also has a Test century at every major Australian Test venue.
One-day international player of the year went to bowler Clint McKay, an unsung hero of the national side who was rewarded for consistency.
He took 26 wickets at 25.8 in his 18 matches and no one was more surprised than him at the win.
“I’m lost for words, it’s not something I expected at all,” McKay said.
“To win an award that’s voted by your peers, it’ something you treasure dearly.
“It’s been a long ride, a long process over 7-8 years … but going through the ranks, it’s been fantastic.”
Despite regular injury disruptions, Shane Watson’s impressive World Cup performances – 249 runs at at average of 49.8 and 11 wickets at 16 – earned him a second consecutive T20 player of the year award.
Victoria’s Jess Cameron edged out fellow Vic Meg Lanning to win the Belinda Clark Award as Australia’s best women’s player.
Cameron was player of the match in the Women’s World Twenty20 final in October which Australia won, and polled 41 votes ahead of Lanning’s 36.
The women’s team were absent from the red carpet event as they’re busy performing impressively in the early stages of the ICC Women’s World Cup in India. They comfortably won their first two games against Pakistan and South Africa. Tomorrow they take on New Zealand – both sides have already secured their places in the Super Sixes stage.
Images via Getty
