The Australian Cricket awards was a grand affair on Monday which featured several star cricketers from the country getting felicitated for their remarkable performances in the year 2022. The ceremony was opened by the respective captains of the Men and Women’s teams, Pat Cummins and Meg Lanning.
The duo had a moment of awkward silence which left the entire crowd in splits right at the beginning of the ceremony. Seeing his captain fumble at the mic, Australian opener Usman Khawaja was also seen having a laugh. Lanning broke the silence and said that it was her turn to speak and welcomed the crowd and wished them good luck for the awards ceremony. The duo signed off with a burst of laughter.
Watch the video here:
Is it my turn? 🤣😂pic.twitter.com/M61KqDRHRC
— CricTracker (@Cricketracker) January 31, 2023
Coming back to the ceremony, Steve Smith and Beth Mooney took home the highest honour in men’s and women’s cricket respectively. Smith was awarded the Allan Border medal while Mooney was bestowed with the prestigious Belinda Clarke Award.
It was Smith’s fourth Allan Border medal which makes him level with Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke who also have four medals to their name.
Usman Khawaja, who was the highest run-scorer for Australia in 2022, was awarded ‘Shane Warne Men’s Test Player of the Year’. He amassed 1080 runs in 20 innings at an average of 67.50 with four hundreds and five fifties to his name.
Matt Short from Adelaide Strikers was awarded Big Bash League Season 12 ‘Player of the Tournament’ while Ashleigh Gardner from Sydney Sixers was awarded ‘Player of the Tournament’ in Women’s Big Bash League.
Tahila Mcgrath was conferred with ‘Women’s T20 Player of the Year’ award. She scored 463 runs at 57.87 in the 18 T20s she played in the nominated period, at a strike rate of 142.02. McGrath also added 13 wickets – with a best of 3-13 – at an average of 14.15 and an economy of 7.07.
Marcus Stoinis was awarded Men’s T20I Player of the Year while star opener David Warner was awarded ‘Men’s ODI Player of the Year’.
2023 Australian Cricket Awards complete list
Allan Border Medal: Steve Smith
Belinda Clark Award: Beth Mooney
Shane Warne Men’s Test Player of the Year: Usman Khawaja
Women’s ODI Player of the Year: Beth Mooney
Men’s ODI Player of the Year: David Warner
Female T20 Player of the Year: Tahlia McGrath
Male T20 Player of the Year: Marcus Stoinis
KFC BBL|12 Player of the Tournament: Matt Short (Adelaide Strikers)
Weber WBBL|08 Player of the Tournament: Ashleigh Gardner (Sydney Sixers)
Women’s Domestic Player of the Year: Annabel Sutherland
Men’s Domestic Player of the Year: Michael Neser
Betty Wilson Young Cricketer: Courtney Sippel
Bradman Young Cricketer: Lance Morris
Community Impact Award: Usman Khawaja
Australian Cricket Hall of Fame inductees: Ian Redpath and Margaret Jennings
