Cricket 2023: Steve Smith and Beth Mooney claim top gongs at Australian Cricket Awards

Australia’s mens cricket emerging stars have been upstaged by veterans Steve Smith and David Warner at the Australian Cricket Awards.

Steve Smith has capped off an incredible 2022 by taking out the prestigious Allan Border Medal for a record-equalling fourth time at Monday night’s Australian Cricket Awards in Sydney.

The 33-year-old joins legends Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke as the only men to win the award four times, with Smith also claiming men’s cricket’s highest honour in 2015, 2018 and 2021.

The former Test skipper polled 171 votes, finishing in front of Travis Head (144) and David Warner (141) who both enjoyed terrific years with the bat.

It comes months after Smith declared he was back after playing a sumptuous drive that made him feel like he’d returned to his best after a couple of challenging years where he still plundered runs for fun but wasn’t converting them into massive scores.

“It felt like I wasn’t playing as well as I’d like to. Teams had certain plans for me, and while I was still scoring some runs, I wasn’t getting the big runs that I like to score,” said Smith, who started making changes to his technique way back in 2019.

Steve Smith has won the Allan Border Medal for a record-equalling fourth time. Picture: Getty Images

“The change has helped me immensely.

“I had to work through a few things and after watching so much footage I finally figured it out one day. Everything clicked in the middle and it started to work well for me. Hopefully I can keep getting better and better.”

It’s the latest in a long line of achievements for Smith who recently moved past Sir Donald Bradman with his 30th Test century and now only trails Ponting and Steve Waugh in terms of Australian centurions.

Steve Smith scored 876 runs from 11 Test matches. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty

Smith scored 1547 runs in 32 matches across all three formats, headlined by a stunning 200 not out against the West Indies in the first Test innings of the home summer in Perth.

That knock followed a breathtaking unbeaten 145 in a rare loss to Sri Lanka, with Smith amassing 876 runs from 11 Tests last year including three half-centuries in Pakistan.

Making the achievement even more remarkable is that he only played 11 T20 internationals and featured in just one World Cup match as the Aussies were bundled out in the group stage.

Smith was more productive in the 50-over format, amassing 539 runs at an average of 67.4 including a century against New Zealand in Cairns, proving his white ball detractors wrong with some electrifying knocks in the BBL.

Voting for the Allan Border Medal was done by players, umpires and the media on a 3-2-1 basis, with this year’s result a lot more one-sided than 2022 when Mitchell Starc beat Mitch Marsh by a single vote.

Smith and his Test teammates will depart for the tour of India this week as they look to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time since 2004, with his ability to play spin a major reason why the visitors fancy their chances of ending the drought.

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Beth Mooney humbly deflected the question two weeks ago when asked whether she was the best batter in the world, but there is no doubt anymore after she collected the Belinda Clark Award for the second time.

The 29-year-old has been one of the most consistent cricketers for a number of years, also claiming the award in 2021 and dominating the WBBL as the competition’s leading run-scorer of all time.

Beth Mooney has won the Belinda Clark Award for a second time. Picture: Getty Images

It was a bumper year for Mooney and the Australian women’s cricket team as they clinched the Ashes in January, won the 50-over World Cup and claimed the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.

But it wasn’t without its dramas with Mooney suffering a fractured jaw after a freakish injury in the nets just over a year ago.

“I didn’t think I was going to be playing too much after that incident so I’m very happy to be here and very grateful,” she said.

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“I’m very lucky because I’ve got some wonderful people in my life who have ridden the highs and the lows with me. They were the first people I called when I broke my jaw and they rode that with me and felt the pain that I felt.

“Those are the days that you remember and these are the ones that you get to celebrate.”

Mooney scored 976 runs with a staggering average of 65.1, including a blistering 62 in the World Cup final when she was overshadowed by Alyssa Healy’s ridiculous 170.

Mooney finished on 129 votes ahead of Meg Lanning (110 votes) and Tahlia McGrath (95) in one of the most dominant years on the field for the team.

Lanning could have been in the mix for the award that’s voted on by players, umpires and the media but missed the tour of India at the end of the year as she took time away from the game to freshen up for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

That’s why Mooney had to step up even more with the Aussie side also dealing with Rachael Haynes’ retirement from the top order.

McGrath was tipped by many to follow in Ashleigh Gardner’s footsteps as the second all-rounder in a row to win the award, but she’ll have to settle with being the ICC T20 player of the year.

Beth Mooney was in a league of her own. Picture: Mark Evans/Getty

Mooney was also named the women’s ODI player of the year after she scored 403 runs at an absurd average of 100.75 from her 10 matches and took a ridiculous catch at the World Cup.

She has filled in behind the stumps with Alyssa Healy out injured, with the pair set to reunite at the top of the order at next month’s T20 World Cup.

“Gone are the days where we do one or two tours a year,” Mooney said.

“We’re away half the year now. We’re very lucky to do that, but obviously you miss a lot of things being away from home.

“It all comes to a head at some point, and it’s certainly a moment for me and the rest of the team to reflect on the last 12 months of Australian women’s cricket where we’ve had a significant amount of success.

“Hopefully we can continue to have that over the next 12.”