For the first time, Australia's best cricketer will be recognised and honoured with the announcement today of the creation of the Allan Border Medal to be presented annually to the most outstanding player in the country.

A joint initiative of the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) and the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA), the Allan Border Medal will be awarded to the player who receives the most votes from a voting academy of players, umpires and media.

In announcing the award ACB Chief Executive Malcolm Speed said that the Allan Border Medal is now the ultimate individual honour for an Australian player.

"The Allan Border Medal will recognise and reward outstanding performance at the elite level. For an Australian player, there can be no higher individual honour," Mr Speed said.

Allan Border, who joined Mr Speed and ACA Chief Executive Tim May in Melbourne for the announcement, said that he was honoured to have the award named after him.

"To be honest, when this award was first suggested to me I was a bit taken aback, but after considering the suggestion I'm honoured that the ACB and the ACA are naming the award after me. I am pleased that I can now play a part in recognising outstanding Australian cricketers," said Mr Border.

Mr May said that Border was a natural choice to name the award after.

"Allan has enormous respect around the world and particularly in this country. His performances over many years for Australia firstly as a player and then as a captain are legendary. There is no higher individual honour in Australian cricket than this award," said Mr May.

Votes will be cast in official Test and one-day international games on a 3,2,1 basis. Votes gained in Tests will carry greater weight to accurately reflect the fewer Tests played each year compared to the greater number of one-day games. This system assures that all players have an equal opportunity of taking out the Allan Border Medal.

Voting for the 1999-2000 Allan Border Medal commenced from the First Test of the 1999 Coca-Cola West Indies Tour and will conclude prior to the Carlton & United Series finals in February 2000.

The inaugural award will be presented at a gala awards dinner in Melbourne on Monday 31 January 2000.

Allan Border played a record 156 Tests for Australia, scoring a record 11,174 Test runs at an average of 50.56. He also held the Test catching record (156) until it was broken last year. As captain, Border netted 32 wins, 22 losses, 38 draws and one tie in 93 Tests. He also played 273 one-day internationals, scoring 6524 runs.

Channel Nine has secured the rights to the evening and will televise the awards nationally

© 1999 Australian Cricket Board