Top Aussie Test player gong renamed in Warne's honour

The late, great Shane Warne will be honoured with Australia's men's Test Player of the Year award to be renamed in his honour.

The Shane Warne Men's Test Player of the Year award will be presented annually at the Australian Cricket Awards, and sits as the second most prestigious award for men behind the Allan Border Medal.

The announcement of the award's renaming coincided with the Boxing Day Test at the MCG where a number of tributes were paid to 'The King' at the first Test match at his favourite venue since his shock passing in March.

Warne himself won the award once, in 2006 after an incredible year that included a record 40 wickets in the famous 2005 Ashes series in England.

Image Id: 15095BF3DCA54329BD92D97F82E0E7E4 Image Caption: Shane Warne collects his Test player award in 2006 // Getty

Travis Head won the award last summer, while Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan Lyon loom as the leading contenders for the 2023 award.

Labuschagne is Australia's leading run-scorer in the voting period, with 837 runs at 69.75 in eight Tests since last summer's Ashes, with two more to come including today's Boxing Day Test. That is narrowly ahead of Khawaja's 824 at 68.66.

Nathan Lyon leads the wicket-takers tally with 39 wickets since last summer, ahead of captain Mitch Starc's 27 and 24 for Pat Cummins.

This summer's Australian Cricket Awards will be announced on January 30.

Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley and Australian Cricketers' Association CEO, Todd Greenberg, made the announcement.

"As one of Australia's all-time greats, it is fitting we acknowledge Shane's extraordinary contribution to Test cricket by naming this award in his honour in perpetuity," said Hockley.

"Shane was a proud advocate of Test cricket and you only have to look around at all the fans who came out to the MCG in their floppy hats and zinc on Boxing Day to realise what a profound impact he had on the game."

Greenberg added: "I'm proud that the ACA, along with Cricket Australia, is able to recognise the incredible impact Shane had on Test cricket with an award named in his honour.

"While he was a once in a generation player, he was very much a man who understood the important contribution all players made to Australian cricket. He played an important role in the formative years of the ACA and never knocked back an opportunity to promote and grow the game … and once they came, nobody knew how to put on a show quite like Warnie – particularly here at the MCG."

Men's Test Player of the Year past winners

2000: Glenn McGrath

2001: Colin Miller

2002: Matthew Hayden

2003: Ricky Ponting

2004: Ricky Ponting

2005: Damien Martyn

2006: Shane Warne

2007: Ricky Ponting

2008: Brett Lee

2009: Michael Clarke

2010: Simon Katich

2011: Shane Watson

2012: Michael Clarke

2013: Michael Clarke

2014: Michael Clarke

2015: Steve Smith

2016: David Warner

2017: Mitchell Starc

2018: Steve Smith

2019: Nathan Lyon

2020: Marnus Labuschagne

2021: Pat Cummins

2022: Travis Head

Men's NRMA Insurance Test Series v South Africa

First Test: Australia won by six wickets

Dec 26-30: Second Test, MCG, 10.30am AEDT

Jan 4-8: Third Test, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Lance Morris, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner

South Africa squad: Dean Elgar (c), Temba Bavuma, Gerald Coetzee, Theunis de Bruyn, Sarel Eree, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Heinrich Klaasen, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams, Khaya Zondo

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