David Warner named Australia's Test player of the year
Friday 29 January 2016 07:33, UK
David Warner has been named Australia's Test player of the year, picking up the Allan Border Medal ahead of skipper Steve Smith.
Warner won his country's most sought after individual prize - judged on performances in Test and one-day cricket over the last season - with 240 votes, 21 ahead of Smith and 57 more than Mitchell Starc.
"My heart is racing. I honestly thought Smudge (Smith) had a terrific year and he would have taken this out," said the 29-year-old prolific run-scorer.
"People said to me I could have been one of the greats of the game but I just sat there and let it go through my ears. You can only control what you control on the field."
Warner, who last year was named Test vice-captain, recently powered his way to his 16th Test century. In a man-of-the-match performance against the West Indies earlier this month he reached 100 off 82 balls to achieve the fastest Test century at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
And in the earlier series against New Zealand, he scored 163 and 116 in the first Test in Brisbane, before scoring 253 in the second Test in Perth.
Fellow players, the media and umpires vote for their choice of Allan Border Medal winner. Previous recipients include Ricky Ponting, Glenn McGrath, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke and Smith.
All-rounder Glenn Maxwell was named one-day-international player of the year and Adam Voges the domestic player of the year.
Ellyse Perry won her first Belinda Clark Award, claiming the highest individual Australian women's cricket honour ahead of Southern Stars captain Meg Lanning.
