Travis Head has claimed back-to-back Allan Border Medals after pipping Alex Carey by one vote and Mitchell Starc by three to the top men's award in Australian cricket following his dramatic transition into a Test opener.
Head flayed 629 runs in the Ashes at a strike rate of 87.36 including three centuries having initially replaced the injured Usman Khawaja for the run chase in Perth where he hammered 123 off 83 balls to leave England stunned. He followed that with 170 in Adelaide and 163 at the SCG.
"I thought Starcy had an incredible year, I thought Kez [Carey] had a great year. I thought it could have been anyone's," Head told reporters. "I did think Starcy would win it, so I came here tonight pretty relaxed and not thinking that I would be close."
Head is the sixth player to win the Allan Border Medal on multiple occasions after Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Steven Smith (four times), David Warner (three) and Shane Watson (two). Unlike last year, when Head was handed his medal by coach Andrew McDonald at a hotel in Galle, Border was on hand in Brisbane to present his second one, albeit in another low-key ceremony ahead of the team heading to Darwin.
"Very privileged and honoured to have someone like AB in the room," Head said. "I think that's probably the difference in the two of them, is having him there, having him present it. It's something you look back on it and to have that in a picture frame later in your career, to sit there and think that I've got two medals and your kids can look at them and I can tell them how good I am 20 years' time is pretty cool.
"It's crazy to think you're in that sort of category [of other winners]. I look back as a young kid and look what Smudge [Smith] did to go back-to-back through those years, and he piled on a lot more runs than what I did, certainly, and dominated world cricket a lot more than me, but it's cool to have [wins against] India and England in there and have Ashes series in there."
Starc, who was Player of the Series in the Ashes, was named Shane Warne Test Player of the Year after 52 wickets at 17.80 in the voting period - he came third in the AB Medal tally - which included 31 at 19.93 against England when he led an attack missing Josh Hazlewood throughout and Pat Cummins for all but one match. Starc's year also included figures of 6 for 9 against West Indies in Jamaica where he claimed his 400th wicket in his 100th Test.
The consistency and all-round role played by Carey with bat and gloves is highlighted by him finishing narrowly behind Head in the overall voting where Tests are worth double to ODIs and three times compared to T20Is, although Head's ODI 142 against South Africa in Mackay may have proved the difference. Carey scored two Test centuries in the period, 156 against Sri Lanka in Galle and 106 against England in Adelaide. Overall, Head made 971 runs in 11 Tests, nearly 200 more than next-highest scorer Carey.
"Again, individual accolades and runs, and all those things I've never really been too worried about," Head said. "That's why I rocked up tonight not expecting anything. To win an Ashes series is incredible. To have an opportunity to maybe win a Border-Gavaskar away, to win an Ashes away, to win a World Cup away in South Africa later in the next year, that's all I'm sorely worried about, but first we've got to play really well against Bangladesh next week.
"We've got a huge opportunity against South Africa, and then we play New Zealand, who are playing exceptionally good cricket. So our work's going to be cut out. I'm just pleased to be playing well, and let's hope it continues."
Mitchell Marsh was named ODI Player of the Year after making 304 runs at 60.80 in six matches and Tim David took the T20I award for 395 runs at 49.37 and a strike rate of 197.50.
The Belinda Clark Award was announced earlier this year - with Annabel Sutherland also a back-to-back winner - after the traditional ceremony was ditched due to scheduling clashes with international and franchise cricket, which meant CA couldn't find a date to bring all their players together.
The awards for international cricket are based on votes from players, umpires and media on a 3-2-1 basis from each match. The voting period was January 29, 2025 to January 24, 2026.