Sydney, February 15 – Annabel Sutherland has further cemented her place in Australian cricket history, becoming only the fifth woman to win consecutive Belinda Clark Awards after another outstanding year with the national team.
The 24-year-old all-rounder was named Australia's premier female cricketer at a presentation at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday, receiving 77 votes to edge out two-time winner Beth Mooney by three.
Due to scheduling conflicts between the men's and women's programs, the traditional awards night was disrupted, and Sutherland received the award from Belinda Clark at the SCG Members' Long Bar before Australia's evening training session.
Sutherland's influence extended beyond the main award. She was also named ODI Player of the Year, highlighting her impact during a demanding period of overseas matches.
Mooney, meanwhile, claimed the T20I Player of the Year award after finishing level on votes with opening partner Georgia Voll, then prevailing on countback. Australia played only three T20Is during the voting period, all in New Zealand, where Mooney scored 166 runs at a strike rate of 167, earning the player-of-the-series award. This was her fourth T20I award since the award was introduced in 2019, reflecting her sustained excellence in the shortest format of the game.
Over the 12-month voting period, Australia played 13 white-ball matches – all away from home – including 10 ODIs across the series in India and the subsequent World Cup campaign.
Sutherland emerged as one of Australia's most reliable performers at the ODI World Cup. She topped Australia's wicket-taking charts in the 50-over format and finished second overall in the tournament with 17 wickets at an average of 15.82. Her unbeaten innings of 98 against England further underscored her value as a genuine all-rounder.
In total, Sutherland took 27 wickets at an average of 15.63 across formats and scored 250 runs at an average of 41.66.
This achievement places her alongside an elite group of multiple-time winners: Karen Rolton, Lisa Sthalekar, Shelley Nitschke, and Meg Lanning.
"It's pretty special to be alongside those names… it's pretty cool and very surreal right now. I'm super grateful to receive the award from 'BC' (Clark), and just grateful and nice to know that I've contributed to the team's success over the last 12 months," Sutherland was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
However, the accolade brings mixed feelings after Australia's semi-final loss at the World Cup, a tournament that significantly influenced Sutherland's recent preparation.
"It's hard to go past the way the World Cup finished, in terms of where the team sat in the result we got there. I put a lot of emphasis on that World Cup… and over the last couple of years that was the focus in my preparation, on how was I going to contribute to wins for Australia," she added.
"I felt like I was able to do that with the ball throughout that tournament, and in bits with the bat too. But it's a tough one to reflect on given the way the World Cup finished up," she stated.
Mooney delivered an exceptional World Cup performance, rescuing Australia with a century against Pakistan and ending as the team's top scorer. Leg-spinner Alana King also had a remarkable tournament, including a national-record 7-18 against South Africa, which earned her third place in the Belinda Clark Award voting.
International awards are decided through a voting system involving players, umpires, and media representatives, who assign points on a 3-2-1 basis after each match. These votes carry different weights: double for Tests and triple for ODIs, compared to T20Is, before the Belinda Clark Award winner is selected. In case of a tie, the player with the most three-vote performances wins.
Australia did not feature in a Test match during the 2026 voting period.
