Beth Mooney, Annabel Sutherland and Ashleigh Gardner are all strong contenders to be crowned the nation’s top female cricketer, with the Belinda Clark Award set to be presented ahead of Sunday’s opening T20I against India.
Conflicting schedules between the country’s men’s and women’s teams have prevented the Australian Cricket Awards from being held in their traditional format this season, and the top women’s prizes – which also include the ODI and T20I players of the year – will be revealed ahead of the SCG blockbuster.
The Betty Wilson Young Cricketer and Women’s Domestic Player of the Year awards will be revealed on Thursday.
The major men’s awards, including the Allan Border Medal, will be announced later in the year. The Bradman Young Cricketer and Men’s Domestic player of the year awards have already been announced.
Mooney, Sutherland and Gardner, who are all previous Belinda Clark Award winners, enjoyed strong individual campaigns across a 12-month period that was relatively light-on for action for the Australian team, thanks to a rare winter off-season and the shift in Australia’s main home series to the February-March window.
Alana King, who had the ball on a string across that World Cup, is also a contender to claim the award for the first time.
Just 13 white-ball matches were played across the voting period – all of those away from home – with three T20Is in New Zealand last March, and 10 one-dayers in September and October encompassing the bilateral series in India and the ODI World Cup, which saw Australia go undefeated through the group stage before their semi-final upset loss to the hosts.
Mooney appears a clear frontrunner to take out the T20I Player of the Year award having been named player of that series in New Zealand after scoring 166 runs at an average of 83 and strike rate of 167. Georgia Voll also enjoyed a strong series filling in at the top of the order for Alyssa Healy, scoring 151 runs at 53.66 and striking at 149, while Sutherland was dominant with the ball claiming eight wickets at an average of eight.
Mooney, who won the 2021 and 2023 BC Awards also shone at the ODI World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, pulling Australia out of deep trouble with a century against Pakistan and finishing the tournament as her team’s top run scorer. In the 10 one-day games in the voting period she struck 444 runs at 55.5.
Sutherland, last year’s BC Award winner, was Australia’s leading wicket-taker in the 50-over format, finishing second on the overall wickets tally at the ODI World Cup with 17 at 15.82 while contributing a high score of 98no against England.
Gardner, who claimed the award in 2022 and 2024, was a consistent contributor with both bat and ball, scoring two World Cup tons, against New Zealand and England, and collecting 10 wickets in 10 one-dayers.
Leg-spinner King bagged an Australian record 7-18 against South Africa and was the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 13 at 17.38.
Votes are weighted to decide the Belinda Clark Award winner, with votes polled in Test matches worth twice those from ODI fixtures, and three times the T20I votes. Of course, Australia did not play a Test in the voting period, but performances through the 50-over block of cricket through September in October will be critical in determining the winner.
Saturday’s T20I will launch a busy 2025 for the Australian woman, who are scheduled to play two Tests, 12 ODIs and at least 14 T20Is including home series against India and Bangladesh, an away multi-format tour of the Caribbean, the T20 World Cup in England and an away ODI trip to Sri Lanka.
NRMA Insurance Australia v India Multi-Format Series
Australia T20I squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Uma Chetry, Arundhati Reddy, Amanjot Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Bharti Fulmali, Shreyanka Patil
February 15: First T20, SCG, 7:15pm AEDT
February 19: Second T20, Manuka Oval, Canberra, 7:15pm AEDT
February 21: Third T20, Adelaide Oval, 7:15pm AEDT
Australia ODI squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Sophie Molineux (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
India ODI squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Kashvee Gautam, Amanjot Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Uma Chetry, Harleen Deol
February 24: First ODI, Allan Border Field, Brisbane, 2:50pm AEDT
February 27: Second ODI, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:50pm AEDT
March 1: Third ODI, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:50pm AEDT
Australia Test squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Sophie Molineux (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
India Test squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh, Sneh Rana, Amanjot Kaur, Uma Chetry, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Kranti Gaud, Vaishnavi Sharma, Sayali Satghare
March 6-9: Test match, WACA Ground, 4:20pm AEDT (D/N)
