Travis Head Wins Second Straight Allan Border Medal
Travis Head has won the Allan Border Medal for the second year in a row, finishing one vote ahead of Alex Carey and three ahead of Mitchell Starc for the top men’s accolade in Australian cricket. The event was held in Brisbane, with Allan Border himself on stage to give the award before the squad’s departure for Darwin.
The voting period ran from January 29, 2025 to January 24, 2026. Players, umpires, and media vote on a 3-2-1 system every match, with Tests carrying twice the weight of ODIs and three times the weight of T20s.
Head is now the sixth player to have won the Allan Border Medal more than once, following Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, and Steven Smith, who each won four times, David Warner, who won three times, and Shane Watson, who won two.
How did Head establish a winning case against Carey and Starc?
Head’s campaign was built around a dominant Ashes series, in which he took over as Test opener after Usman Khawaja was hurt. He scored 629 runs in the series at an 87.36 strike rate, including three centuries: 123 off 83 balls in Perth, 170 in Adelaide, and 163 at the SCG. Across 11 Tests during the voting period, Head scored 971 runs, nearly 200 more than Carey, the next highest scorer.
Carey’s challenge was based on consistency with bat and gloves. During that time, he made two Test centuries, 156 against Sri Lanka in Galle and 106 against England in Adelaide, finishing just behind Head in the final total.
Head’s 142 in an ODI against South Africa in Mackay is thot to have contributed to the one-vote margin, given the award’s weighting formula.
What other awards were handed at the Brisbane ceremony?
Starc, the Ashes Player of the Series, won the Shane Warne Test Player of the Year award after taking 52 wickets at 17.80 during the voting period and coming third in the Allan Border Medal tally.
His 31 wickets at 19.93 against England came while leading an attack that was missing Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins for all but one game. Starc also took 6 for 9 against the West Indies in Jamaica, when he claimed his 400th wicket in his 100th Test.
Mitchell Marsh was named ODI Player of the Year, scoring 304 runs at 60.80 in six matches. Tim David won the T20I award with 395 runs at 49.37 and a strike rate of 197.50.
The Belinda Clark Award, which Annabel Sutherland won for the second year in a row, was announced earlier in 2026 after Cricket Australia separated it from the main event due to scheduling conflicts with international and franchise commitments, making it impossible to gather all players on a single date.
