Steve Smith equals Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke with record fourth Allan Border Medal

Steve Smith added yet another feather to his cap on Monday by being named the Australian Cricketer of the Year for 2022 at the year-end black-tie gala at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney. The Allan Border Medal was bestowed upon the 33-year-old for the fourth time in his career, having previously won in 2015, 2018 and 2021, thereby becoming only the third player after Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke to achieve the feat since the award's inauguration in 2000. Smith tallied 1,524 runs in international cricket in the voting period beginning March 2022 up to the present year, averaging an astonishing 58.61 including a double century, three centuries and eight half-centuries. 

Even though Smith lost his place in Australia's T20 lineup at the World T20 owing to questions over his strike rate, the weighted voting system which values Tests thrice as much as ODIs twice as much as T20Is ensured it played little role in deciding the winner. The top-order batter's total tally after combing the votes of players, the media and umpires came to 171, significantly ahead of runner-up Travis Head with 144 votes, who was further followed by David Warner (141), Marnus Labuschagne (138) and Usman Khawaja (132). 

Smith would be hopeful of building upon his record-breaking year with more success in 2023, which features a slew of marquee events such as the Border Gavaskar Trophy, the Ashes and the ICC World Cup.