Stoinis honoured with ODI award

Marcus Stoinis continued his journey into the upper echelons of Australian cricket after being named Australia's men's One-Day International Player of the Year at the 2019 Australian Cricket Awards. 

The seam-bowling allrounder was a model of consistency in a difficult year for Australia's ODI side during which they won just two of 13 matches played during the voting period (9 January 2018 – 7 January 2017). 

Stoinis was the only Australian to play every single one those 13 ODIs, underlining his resilience and value in a World Cup year where Australia will bid for an unprecedented sixth crown in England from late May.

Stoinis polled 30 votes to win the award ahead of Aaron Finch (22 votes), Shaun Marsh 18, Travis Head (14) and bowlers Billy Stanlake and Andrew Tye who each earned nine votes.

Marsh played just seven of the 13 ODIs in the period, and he polled 18 out of a possible 21 votes for those appearances. He was in exceptional form with the bat – notably during Australia's five-match series against England last winter – scoring three hundreds and averaging 59.43.

Australia's ODI captain, Finch was also a strong contender for the prize, having been the nation's leading run-scorer in the period with 493 runs at 44.82, including three hundreds of his own.

Stoinis was the third-top run-scorer with 376 runs, passing fifty four times with a top score of 87. His average was 28.92 in a middle-order role. It was well below his career batting average of 42.47.

The allrounder was also Australia's leading ODI wicket-taker in the voting period, with 13 wickets from as many matches, at an average of 36.77 with a best return of 3-16. 

His ability to claim key wickets with regularity and add valuable lower-order runs – particularly through his powerful six-hitting – saw him regularly poll votes. Stoinis hit 14 sixes in the voting period, the most of any Australian.

His best performances came at the Perth Stadium, where he struck 87 to be Australia's top scorer in a narrow defeat to England last January, while his best bowling return of 3-16 came at the same venue in November in a defeat to South Africa. 

It's the first honour for Stoinis at the Australian Cricket Awards and he becomes the first seam-bowling allrounder to win the men's ODI prize since Shane Watson's trio of titles in 2010-2012.

The Australian Cricket Awards recognition will fuel burgeoning calls for the allrounder to be a three-format player for Australia. 

Selectors revealed their interest in him as a Test allrounder when he was added to the squad for this month's Canberra Test match against Sri Lanka, but in a World Cup year his opportunities to press his case in that format against the red ball are limited.