Steve Smith named Test Player of the Year at the annual Allan Border Medal awards

Australian skipper Steve Smith has been named as the Test player of the year for the year of 2017 at the annual Allan Border Medal presentation in Melbourne. The Australian skipper has had a terrific run of form in the longest form of the game in the recent times. Under his leadership, the Australian team regained the Ashes this season.

Also, Steve Smith had led from the front in the series with a run aggregate touching almost 700 and an average over the 120 mark. The calendar year of 2017 was the most successful one for Steve Smith on the personal front. He aggregated a total of 1305 runs at an average of 81.56 with six centuries in 2017. When compared to the next top performers in 2017 in Test cricket, Smith looks way ahead of the pack.

India’s Chesteshwar Pujara aggregated 1170 runs in the year, while English skipper Joe Root amassed 1107 runs. It is worth noting that both Pujara and Root played one match more than what Smith played during the calendar year. The final result of the poll saw Smith bag a total of 32 votes to take the coveted prize. Nathan Lyon followed in closely with 26 votes to his credit, while David Warner managed to fetch 15 votes.

This is the second time when Steve Smith has won the accolade in his career. He had won the same prize in the year of 2015. With the achievement, the Australian captain became just the third player after former skippers Michael Clarke (four times) and Ricky Ponting (three) to win the award on multiple occasions. Smith has certainly joined the league of top Australian skippers over the years.

David Warner bags the honor in ODIs

Meanwhile, opening batsman David Warner won the prize of the ODI Player of the Year. This is Warner’s second consecutive claim as the top ODI Player of the Year. In the year of 2017, Warner amassed 691 runs in 13 innings at an average of 57.58. Also, Warner had a phenomenal strike rate of 103 and 3 centuries to his name.

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