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Australia's David Warner a surprise winner of cricket's Allan Border Medal

Xinhua, January 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Australia's vice-captain David Warner has taken out the highest individual honor in Australian cricket, winning the Allan Border Medal on Wednesday night.

In a glittering ceremony at Melbourne's Crown Casino, Warner polled 240 votes to win the most-coveted prize of the night ahead of captain Steve Smith (219 votes) and bowler Mitchell Starc (183).

Warner, 29, was also named Test player of the year, while Glenn Maxwell won one-day player of the year.

The result came as a surprise to many, including Warner, as Smith was considered the hot favorite having scored more runs than Warner in the voting period.

"I honestly thought Smithy had a terrific year and I thought he would have taken this out," Warner said on Wednesday.

The honors for Warner serve as a reminder of how far the opener has come since his Test debut in 2011, when the Twenty20 and one-day specialist was heavily criticised for not having the patience to be effective in the longer form of the game.

In 2013, the pugnacious left-hander came under heavy fire from many commentators, and the chief executive of Cricket Australia, James Sutherland, who labelled his actions "despicable" after a physical altercation with English batsman Joe Root.

Votes for the Allan Border Medal are cast after each Test and one-day game and are sourced from two groups: players, and media and umpires. Warner received 120 votes from each group highlighting the consistency in his 1990-run year.

The highlight of Warner's year came at the start of the Australian summer when he registered consecutive scores of 163, 116 and 253 against New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Meg Lanning's reign as the undisputed queen of Australian women's cricket came to an end with all-rounder Ellyse Perry winning her first Belinda Clark Medal, for best female cricketer.

Perry's year was capped off in the women's Ashes series where she was awarded Player of the Series after taking the most wickets and making the most runs as Australia triumphed. Endite