Photo Credit: Perth Scorchers
Perth Scorchers stars Mitch Marsh and Beth Mooney have been named the best International T20 cricketers in the country, during the televised ceremony of the 2022 Australian Cricket Awards.It’s been a career-defining 12 months for Marsh, highlighted by a stunning campaign in the West Indies and a player of the match performance in the World Cup final win over New Zealand last year.
Marsh, who was just one point of claiming the Allan Border Medal, has become a key performer in Australia’s return to the top, averaging nearly 40 in 20 T20I innings across the past year.
Marsh scored his maiden T20I half-century, producing 51 runs from 31 deliveries in the first T20I match of Australia’s tour of the West Indies in July 2021. He continued his good form, scoring another half-century in the following match and in the fourth T20I made 75 runs and took career-best T20I bowling figures of 3-24.
Marsh went from strength to strength, his purple patch on the international stage culminating in a breathtaking unbeaten 77 off 50 deliveries in the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup final. For this performance, he was awarded the Player of the Match.
His incredible form continued in the 2021-22 KFC Big Bash League, being named in the BBL|11 Team of the Tournament smashing 342 runs at an average of 68.40.
To finish off a brilliant year, Marsh was part of the Perth Scorchers Championship team, who claimed their fourth Big Bash League title last night.
Joining Marsh is Scorchers’ opener Beth Mooney who has taken out the Female T20 International Player of the Year award for a second consecutive season.
Mooney helped Australia seal the T20I series win over India last October with her stunning innings at the top of the order. The power hitter produced an impressive 61 off 43, smacking 10 fours and batting till the 18th over.
Mooney’s winning T20I performance pushed her to the top of the women’s T20I batters’ rankings, taking her past Indian opener Shafali Verma. It was only this week Verma regained top spot, after Mooney was sidelined from the Ashes games with a fractured jaw.
Mooney enjoyed a stellar 2021 Women’s Big Bash League tournament which resulted in her claiming her third WBBL title.
The opener proved unstoppable with the bat and finished the competition as leading run-scorer with 528 at an average of 52.80 and became the first player to pass 3,500 WBBL career runs.
The run machine formed a formidable opening combination with skipper Sophie Devine, the pair being named in the WBBL|07 Team of the Tournament for a third consecutive season.
AWARD WINNERS
Allan Border Medal – Mitchell Starc
Belinda Clark Award – Ashleigh Gardner
Male Test Player of the Year – Travis Head
Male ODI Player of the Year – Mitchell Starc
Female ODI Player of the Year – Alyssa Healy
Male T20I Player of the Year – Mitchell Marsh
Female T20I Player of the Year – Beth Mooney
Male Domestic Player of the Year – Travis Head
Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year – Tim Ward
Female Domestic Player of the Year – Elyse Villani
Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year – Darcie Brown
Community Champion Award – Zoe Cooke
Australian Cricket Hall of Fame inductees – Raelee Thompson and Justin Langer
Male T20 International Player of the Year
Mitchell Marsh (53 votes)
2nd: Josh Hazlewood (29 votes)
3rd: Ashton Agar (26 votes)
Female T20 International Player of the Year
Beth Mooney (13 votes)
2nd: Tahlia McGrath (10 votes)
3rd: Ashleigh Gardner (6 votes)
