The Allan Border Medal was created at the turn of the century and, for years, its presentation stood as cricket’s version of a major showbiz night, rivalling the AFL’s Brownlow Medal ceremony and the NRL’s Dally M Awards. That image has frayed badly. Instead of a gala, Australia’s leading individual honour will be handed out at a private function, another sign that the award is now being fitted around the calendar rather than given pride of place within it.
Border, 71, is preparing to present the medal that carries his name before the Australian squad leaves for Darwin this weekend. He has urged Cricket Australia to restore a full awards ceremony from next year, saying he wants to see the event returned to its traditional format, with the women included and the presentation held at the right time of year. The Shane Warne Test player of the year award will also be presented on Friday night by the late great Warne’s father Keith in front of the Australian squad.
The timing reflects the squeeze Cricket Australia has been unable to solve. Friday’s event comes before the team flies out this weekend ahead of Australia’s first Test against Bangladesh next Thursday (AEST). CA reportedly found it impossible to schedule a suitable time for the country’s top male and female cricketers to come together and has therefore decided not to hold a gala in 2026.
The February window that once made the ceremony possible has effectively vanished. The awards night had always taken place in February, in a gap between the end of the Test summer and a tour overseas. But that slot is no longer available, with the Women’s Premier League – the female equivalent of the IPL – shifting into the January-February slot and the Aussie men abroad for the T20 World Cup.
Border said the changed timing has made the whole exercise feel out of step.
“It does seem a bit odd to be in the middle of winter, and there’s been no cricket really played, and everyone’s sort of forgotten about who’s done what. Trying to pick the winner will be a bit harder than normal,” Border told Code Sports.
“But yeah, look, it is what it is. I think the players still rate the fact that it’s a great honour for them to win that medal. So whenever it’s held, it’s highly regarded by the players, and that’s important.
“But I’d like to see it go back to a traditional time and traditional sort of ceremony, where the girls are there.
“It’s a big event down at the Crown Casino at the end of the season, have the big awards night, and then they get on with the winter programs.”
The gradual loss of status has already shown up in the way the honour is received. For the first time in the 25-year history of the Allan Border Medal the winner of the prestigious honour didn’t accept the award from the cricket icon in person last year. Australia’s top male player of last season, Travis Head, instead gave a prerecorded interview while the Australian Test team toured Sri Lanka. That interview was then played on the night, with Border unable to congratulate him in person like he had done to each winner for a quarter of a century.
The women’s players attended the gala ceremony in 2025, but this year CA decided there would be no awards night for either of the men and women, due to scheduling difficulties. The sense that the prize has been diminished by this stop-start presentation style has spread beyond cricket administration, with SEN’s Kane Cornes going as far as to say the award has become completely “meaningless”.
“It’s like having the Brownlow Medal and the top eight fancies are ineligible,” Cornes said on SEN last year.
“Even the rusted-on SEN lovers of cricket, if you asked them ‘Hey list me off the last five AB medal winners’, I don’t reckon they could do that.
“It is the most meaningless award. It just doesn’t mean anything.”
