Steve Smith has won his third Allan Border Medal at the 2021 Australian Cricket Awards, beating off Pat Cummins and Aaron Finch for the gong.
In the voting period from January 9, 2020, to January 19 2021, Smith scored the most international runs of any Australian player across all three formats.
He scored 1098 runs at an average of 45.75 including four centuries.
The two centuries that stand out most in the mind are arguable his back-to-back blistering innings against India at the SCG in the ODI matches towards the end of 2020.
MORE: Shaun Marsh and Elyse Villani headlines domestic Australian cricket award winners
It is the third time that Smith has won the award, having claimed the gong in both 2015 and 2018.
Smith played the most matches of any Australian player in the voting period which would have helped him pick up the award.
Smith joins David Warner as a three-time winner of the award.
They are both chasing Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke who both won the award four times.
Many tipped Australian Test vice-captain Pat Cummins to win his second Allan Border Medal after a standout year with the ball.
He took 41 wickets across the voting period in international cricket at an average of 27.60, the most wickets of any Australian bowler.
Surprisingly, Aaron Finch came in third with 97 votes after his fantastic form with the bat across Australia's limited-overs matches.
He finished with 944 runs at an average of 47.20 across 21 matches.
Steve Smith also won the award for the Men's ODI Player of the Year.
Smith polled 28 votes and was closely followed by limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch on 23 votes and Adam Zampa on 19 votes.
Pat Cummins was a clear winner of the Test Player of the Year after a wonderful season in the baggy green.
He finished on 16 votes, beating out Josh Hazlewood (9 votes) and Marnus Labuschagne (8 votes) in a year where not much Test cricket was played.
There was a surprise in the T20 award with Ashton Agar awarded the Men's T20I Player of the Year.
Agar polled 19 votes with Finch again coming in second on 14 votes and David Warner in third on 13 votes.
Reflecting on his award, Smith admits he was shocked to receive the medal among such a talented field in the past 12 months.
"I was a bit surprised," Smith told reporters after being awarded the medal.
"I didn't feel I probably had the biggest Test summer which normally holds the most votes.
"I think my one-day cricket was pretty good last year so got a lot of votes there.
"It's obviously an honour to win this for the third time, so really excited.
"For the rest of the night, I'll be at home hopefully watching the Sixers win another tournament."
ALLAN BORDER MEDAL STANDINGS
| Rank | Player | Votes |
| 1 | Steve Smith | 126 |
| 2 | Pat Cummins | 114 |
| 3 | Aaron Finch | 97 |
| 4 | Josh Hazlewood | 91 |
| 5 | Marnus Labuschagne | 84 |
| 6 | Adam Zampa | 77 |
| 7 | Ashton Agar | 59 |
| 8 | David Warner | 56 |
| 9 | Mitchell Starc | 54 |
| 10 | Glenn Maxwell | 52 |
Men's Test Player of the Year standings
| Rank | Player | Votes |
| 1 | Pat Cummins | 16 |
| 2 | Josh Hazlewood | 9 |
| 3 | Marnus Labuschagne | 8 |
Men’s ODI Player of the Year standings
| Rank | Player | Votes |
| 1 | Steve Smith | 28 |
| 2 | Aaron Finch | 23 |
| 3 | Adam Zampa | 19 |
Men's T20 International Player of the Year standings
| Rank | Player | Votes |
| 1 | Ashton Agar | 19 |
| 2 | Aaron Finch | 14 |
| 3 | David Warner | 13 |