Travis Head wins Allan Border Medal, narrowly misses clean sweep

Australian star Travis Head has claimed his first ever Allan Border Medal and needed only one word after claiming the honour.

Travis Head has secured his first Allan Border Medal following an exceptional year with the willow.

Head was a deserving winner after coming off a stellar 12 months across all three formats, with a staggering 1427 runs since the polling period began with the home Test series against West Indies last January, and ended with the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

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The 31-year-old accepted his award virtually with the Australian Test team currently still in Sri Lanka.

After Head was handed the award by coach Andrew McDonald, he gave a simple thumbs up to the camera and offered up nothing more than “cheers”.

The moment left those in attendance at the awards night in Melbourne in hysterics before they crossed back to Head to speak about the win.

“It’s pretty hard to believe, it’s been a good year so very pleased with how the team has gone and very pleased I’ve been able to fit in somewhat,” Head said after winning the award.

“I do a role and I’m lucky that I play a few formats as well so it’s been an enjoyable year.”

Asked about his highlight over the past 12 months, Head said you couldn’t look past the series win over India.

“Hard not to go by the summer we’ve just had against India,” Head said.

“They’ve played exceptionally well the last couple of times against us and to be able to contribute to that one and get the win will go down as one of the better ones.”

Head polled 208 votes to pip Josh Hazlewood (158 votes) and Pat Cummins (147) who finished second and third respectively.

Australian coach Andrew McDonald awards Travis Head with the Allan Border Medal in Sri Lanka

It could have been a truly remarkable night for Head after he earlier in the night claimed the award for the Men’s ODI Player of the Year.

A treble of trophies however wasn’t on the cards with Josh Hazlewood beating out Head to claim the Shane Warne Men’s Test Player of the Year.

Hazlewood’s victory was somewhat surprising given he played fully in just five of the nine Tests during the voting period.

The bowler received 20 votes to Travis Head’s 19 and Pat Cummins’ 16, helped by receiving more votes from players than media and umpires.

Head beat out Pat Cummins for the top honour. (Photo by David GRAY / AFP)

Head edged out Australian skipper Pat Cummins who fell short of claiming his second Allan Border Medal despite an equally impressive year.

Cummins was recently named captain of the ICC’s Test Team of the Year for picking up 37 wickets in nine Tests at an average of 24.02.

As well as that at the T20 World Cup last year, Cummins recorded hat-tricks in consecutive games - which until that point had never been done in 20 years of T20I cricket.

ALLAN BORDER MEDAL AWARD WINNERS

Belinda Clark Award: Annabel Sutherland

Allan Border Medal: Travis Head

BBL|14 Players of the Tournament: Cooper Connolly and Glenn Maxwell

WBBL|10 Players of the Tournament: Ellyse Perry and Jess Jonassen

Women’s T20 Player of the Year: Beth Mooney

Men’s T20 Player of the Year: Adam Zampa

Community Impact Award: Cameron Green

Women’s ODI Player of the Year: Ashleigh Gardner

Men’s ODI Player of the Year: Travis Head

Shane Warne Men’s Test Player of the Year: Josh Hazlewood

Men’s Domestic Player of the Year: Beau Webster

Women’s Domestic Player of the Year: Georgia Voll

Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year: Sam Konstas

Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year: Chloe Ainsworth

Originally published as Travis Head wins Allan Border Medal, narrowly misses clean sweep