Head and Sutherland take top Australia awards

MELBOURNE: Travis Head has been named Australian cricket’s Allan Border Medallist and Annabel Sutherland has won the Belinda Clark Award.

It was the first time for each player to win Australian cricket’s highest individual honours. While Head was a favourite for the top men’s prize, also claiming the one-day international player award, Sutherland was third in the one-day voting and a distant sixth for the women’s T20I international award.

But she was awarded top votes for the two Tests played by the Australian women in the voting period over the past 12 months, most recently scoring 163 at the MCG as the hosts capped their Ashes whitewash.

Sutherland the first woman to score a Test hundred at the MCG. In February last year, she scored 210 in the Test against South Africa at the WACA. The extra weighting for the Test votes proved the difference for Sutherland. It is the first time she has won any of the top women’s categories - the Belinda Clark Award, the ODI or the T20I player.

“For me, I love batting, probably my Test record shows that, and I try and make the most of that when I get out in the middle,” Sutherland said. Head, who received his award from head coach Andrew McDonald at the team hotel in Galle, was a clear winner of the Allan Border Medal and is the first South Australian to claim the award. He also won the ODI category for the first time.