Ellyse Perry named the Belinda Clark medalist for the second time

For all intents and purposes, the Allan Border Medal is Cricket’s version of an Oscar, handed over to extraordinary talents in arguably the most exciting and talented of all cricket-playing nations. Australia. The idea behind this lucid felicitation is to reward Australian cricketers who exhibit pure passion backed with exciting achievements that often lead to headline scorching feats for their team on globetrotting contests.



 



Given the sheer mesmeric persona of its past winners; biggies of the class of Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Glenn McGrath and some recipients from recent cricketing culture include blokes like Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, David Warner and Steve Smith, make the Allan Border medal a prestigious felicitation.



 



Consider it your joie de vivre for both men’s and women’s game.



 



So when you share the prized stage with such magnanimous names each year, the ceremony is bound to attract the attention of world media and reward the talents and winners with oodles of fanfare. Where the women’s game stands in Australia, the equivalent of the Allan Border medal- the Belinda Clark Award- has been extended to former greats like Karen Rolton, Cathryn Fitzpatrick, Lisa Sthalekar and Meg Lanning.



 



But by virtue of her stupendous all-round show, inarguably cricket’s most meteoric name of this age, Ellyse Perry earned the prestigious 2017 Belinda Clark Award for showcasing utter excellence.



It could be argued thanks to noted achievements like bagging 9 wickets in ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, scoring Australia’s first Ashes double hundred- a suave unbeaten 213 at Sydney- and for registering 552 runs, laced with 3 fifties and scalping 5 wickets in the 2018 Women’s Big Bash League for Sydney Sixers, Perry’s outstanding achievements were hard to ignore. An absorbing athlete and an ever-smiling talent who’s never shy from public interaction and available for a nuanced word of advice, Perry’s zeal for the sport permeate the spirit of the Australian women’s contingent.



 



This, it could be said, augurs well for the development of the women’s sport around the world. But one of the most important highlights of the 2018 Allan Border Medal was the win garnered by New South Wales’ cricketer Georgia Redmayne who was felicitated with the Betty Wilson ‘young cricketer of the year award.’ In the end, with 116 votes Perry entered an elite enlistment of women cricketers to have bagged the Belinda Clark award with only 4 previous players having earned the salutation in the past.



 



Playing an important part for Hobart Hurricanes’ 2018 outing in WBBL, hard-hitting leftie wicket keeping batswoman Redmayne struck a couple of important 40s and a solitary 50 in her second outing in the much famous WBBL in Australia. It could be noted that wielding a very high Shikhar Dhawan-like backlift, Redmayne goes about quickly accumulating her runs and is an able cutter and puller of the cricket ball. It remains to be seen in the light of her recent accomplishments, how quickly can Cricket Australia facilitate the left-hander to be drafted into the national set-up.