Matthew Wade’s massive run haul earns him his maiden Ricky Ponting Medal

It was billed as a head-to-head battle between Matthew Wade and Jackson Bird for Tasmanian cricket’s highest individual award, but runs ultimately outweighed the wickets.

IT was billed as a head-to-head battle between Matthew Wade and Jackson Bird for Tasmanian cricket’s highest individual award, but runs ultimately outweighed the wickets.

Ashes hopefuls Wade (1021 Sheffield Shield runs at an average of 60.1) and Bird (50 wickets at 22.2) were the two clear standout Tigers in the four-day format, but it was the skipper who finished clear on top in voting en route to securing his maiden Ricky Ponting Medal last night.

Wade polled 208 votes, 52 more than Bird to win the David Boon Medal as the state’s shield player of the year, with the duo filling the quinella for the Ponting Medal — as expected — with 247 votes and Bird a distant second on 189.

Matthew Wade pulls another ball to the boundary on his way to amassing more than 1000 runs in the Sheffield Shiled season. Picture: AAP

Alex Doolan’s best shield campaign of his career with the bat in aggregate (761 at 38) saw him finish third in both counts.

First-year Tiger Gurinder Sandhu was crowned winner of the Jack Simmons Medal as the Tigers’ best player in the JLT limited-overs series.

Like the Boon and Ponting medals it was expected to be a two-horse race for the one-day player of the year award between the former Australian and NSW seamer and Ben McDermott, but this time wickets held sway.

McDermott cracked two centuries and two 50s on his way to 427 runs at 71.2 in the tournament, but a record haul of 7-56 in the final against Victoria, which included a hat-trick, was enough for Sandhu to emerge victorious on 117 votes, with McDermott finishing on 110.

Corinne Hall upstaged WNCL player of the tournament Georgia Redmayne to win the female 50-over crown.

Hall polled 101 votes to finish 17 clear of veteran Veronica Pyke, with Redmayne third on 80.

Heather Knight was a runaway winner of the Hurricanes’ WBBL player of the tournament, while D’Arcy Short won back-to-back BBL gongs ahead of Wade.