Starc, Gardner take out Aussie cricket's top awards

Ashleigh Gardner has become the first Indigenous person to win a major gong at the annual Australian Cricket Awards, taking out the Belinda Clark Award as the country's leading female player.

And Mitchell Starc has been rewarded for a strong year across all formats, becoming just the fifth fast bowler in 22 years to win the Allan Border Medal as Australia's leading male cricketer, edging out Mitchell Marsh by a single vote.

For the second year in a row, the annual awards were not presented at the usual black-tie event due to biosecurity protocols, which remain a reality for Australian players who are still in the middle of their season.

The award winners, which were decided by votes from players, umpires and media representatives throughout the year, were instead announced during the lunch break of the Women's Ashes Test in Canberra on Saturday.

And the pandemic's impact on Australian cricket was reflected in a look back on the year that was, which saw the national women's side play only two opponents and the men play just one series each in Test and One Day International cricket.

In a 12-month period for the men's team that was dominated by T20s and featured just five Tests and three ODIs, Starc picked up 107 votes to win the top award just ahead of Marsh on 106 votes and Travis Head on 72.

It's the second time in three years that the AB Medal has been decided by just one vote after David Warner beat Steve Smith by that margin in 2020.

Having played a key role in Australia's T20 World Cup title win and the winter tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh, Starc returned home to play all five Tests of Australia's triumphant Ashes campaign, enjoying one of his best-ever Test series with 19 wickets at an average of 25.37.

He also won the Men's ODI Player of the Year award having taken 11 wickets – including five in the opening match – of Australia's only one-day series during the voting period, a 2-1 win over the West Indies.

The left-armer joins Pat Cummins, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath as the only fast bowlers to win the top award since its inception in 2000.

Marsh was named Men's T20 Player of the Year after a breakout 12 months that included a player-of-the-match performance in the World Cup final.

Elevated to No.3 in the batting order on Australia's tour of the Caribbean, Marsh scored 627 runs from 21 T20 games during the voting period to finish on 53 votes, well ahead of Josh Hazlewood (29) and Ashton Agar (26).

Having started the voting period on the outer of Australia's Test side, Travis Head took out the Test Player of the Year award after a stunning Ashes campaign that included match-winning hundreds in the first and fifth games of the series.

The left-hander picked up 12 votes from four games to finish ahead of rookie fast bowler Scott Boland on 10 votes and Starc on 7.

In a similarly lean year for Australia's women's side that included just one Test match, six ODIs and six T20s, Gardner picked up 54 votes to win the Belinda Clark Award ahead of Beth Mooney (47) and Alyssa Healy (39).

Gardner posted a half-century in all three formats during the voting period, highlighted by her maiden Test fifty against India in October and a match-winning 73no from just 43 balls against New Zealand last March.

She was Australia's third-highest run-scorer and fifth-highest wicket-taker across the voting period, which does not include the ongoing Ashes series against England.

Healy won the ODI Player of the Year award for the third time having scored less than 35 just once in six innings in the six matches Australia played, against New Zealand away and India at home.

The wicketkeeper-batter scored 267 runs at 44.50 to finish on 13 votes ahead of Rachael Haynes and Megan Schutt, who polled 10 votes each.

Mooney won the T20 award for the second year in a row having scored almost twice as many runs as anyone else during the voting period, finishing with 13 votes ahead of Tahlia McGrath (10) and Gardner (6).

The leading domestic players were honoured on Friday, with Head and Elyse Villani winning the respective Domestic Player of the Year awards.

Teenage pace ace Darcie Brown won the Betty Wilson Young Cricketer award while Tasmania's Tim Ward won the Bradman Young Cricketer award, honours that recognise the best players under 24 years old at the start of the voting period.

ACT Meteors and Brisbane Heat player Zoe Cooke won the Community Impact Award for her environmental advocacy and volunteer work with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

On Thursday, current men's team head coach and former opener Justin Langer as well as women's cricket trailblazer Raelee Thompson were inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame, the 58th and 59th inductees respectively since it was established in 1996.

2021-22 Australian Cricket Awards

Belinda Clark Award

Winner: Ashleigh Gardner (54 votes)

Runners-up: Beth Mooney (47), Alyssa Healy (39)

Allan Border Medal

Winner: Mitchell Starc (107 votes)

Runners-up: Mitchell Marsh (106), Travis Head (72)

Men's Test Player of the Year

Winner: Travis Head (12 votes)

Runners-up: Scott Boland (10), Mitchell Starc (7)

Women's ODI Player of the Year

Winner: Alyssa Healy (13 votes)

Runners-up: Rachael Haynes (10), Megan Schutt (10)

Men's ODI Player of the Year

Winner: Mitchell Starc (15 votes)

Runners-up: Matthew Wade (6), Adam Zampa & Alex Carey (4)

Women's T20 Player of the Year

Winner: Beth Mooney (13 votes)

Runners-up: Tahlia McGrath (10), Ashleigh Gardner (6)

Men's T20 Player of the Year

Winner: Mitchell Marsh (53 votes)

Runners-up: Josh Hazlewood (29), Ashton Agar (26)

Women's Domestic Player of the Year

Elyse Villani

Men's Domestic Player of the Year

Travis Head

Betty Wilson Young Cricketer

Darcie Brown

Bradman Young Cricketer

Tim Ward

Community Impact Award

Zoe Cooke

Australian Cricket Hall of Fame inductees

Justin Langer & Raelee Thompson