Cricket Awards: Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc has won the Allan Border medal

Mitch Starc set the Ashes alight with a first ball wicket at the Gabba and is now part of a list of greats after a major award.

Mitchell Starc has won his first Allan Border medal (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc silenced any doubters with his blistering start to the Ashes and has officially shut them down with a double-dose of major awards including his maiden Allan Border medal.

The left-armer speedster, who set the Ashes alight with his first-ball dismissal of English opener Rory Burns at the Gabba in December, secured a one-vote win in the Allan Border medal over T20 World Cup hero Mitch Marsh.

Starc was also named Australian one-day player of the year having spearheaded Australian attacks on white-ball tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh which several of his senior teammates opted out of.

His three-format efforts ensured Starc stood out having captured a combined 43 wickets at an average of 24.4 across all formats, 12 clear of the nation’s next best.

Despite pre-match debate about his position in the Test team going in to the opening match in Brisbane, Starc set the Aussies on course for a 4-0 series win with that first ball wicket and went on to take 18 more across the five matches, the only fast bowler to play all five.

Starc joins a list of winners including some of cricket’s all-time greats including Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and more recently Steve Smith, David Warner and Pat Cummins.

Starc was the only Australian fast bowler to play all five games, having also played every match at the T20 World Cup leading in to it in a monster workload which underlined his important to all teams.

Marsh, man of the man in Australia’s epic T20 World Cup triumph, secured the T20 player of the year award having taken over the number three position in the batting order on those mid-year tours and thrived.

Travis Head was named Test player of the year after his dual hundreds in the Ashes (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Ashes man of the series Travis Head also collected his second award in 24 hours when he was named Test player of the year.

Head’s dual Ashes hundreds, having been re-instated in the batting order after being dropped last summer against India, was enough to hold out the story of the summer, Scott Boland, who finished second.

Boland came from the clouds to destroy England at the MCG and his stunning efforts to take 18 wickets in the final three Tests cemented his place in the Australian squad and had him tapping on the door of the major award.

World Cup here Mitch Marsh was named T20 player of the year (Photo by Aamir QURESHI / AFP)

Marsh was unchallenged in voting for the T20 award recording 53 votes to be a whopping 24 clear of fast bowler Josh Hazlewood (29) and Ashton Agar (26).

During the voting period Marsh compiled 627 runs at 36.9 during the voting period including his match-winning unbeaten 77 from 50 balls to be named Player of the Match in the final.

The awards for international cricket are based on votes from players, umpires and the media on a 3-2-1 basis from each match.

THE WINNERS

Allan Border Medal

Mitchell Starc (107 votes)

2nd: Mitchell Marsh (106 votes)

3rd: Travis Head (72 votes)

Male Test Player of the Year

Travis Head (12 votes)

2nd: Scott Boland (10 votes)

3rd: Mitchell Starc (7 votes)

Male ODI Player of the Year

Mitchell Starc (15 votes)

2nd: Matthew Wade (6 votes)

3rd: Adam Zampa/Alex Carey (4 votes)

Male T20 International Player of the Year

Mitchell Marsh (53 votes)

2nd: Josh Hazlewood (29 votes)

3rd: Ashton Agar (26 votes)

Originally published as Cricket Awards: Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc has won the Allan Border medal