Annabel Sutherland Wins Back to Back Belinda Clark Award, Edges Beth Mooney

Annabel Sutherland has won the Belinda Clark Award as Australia’s leading female cricketer for the second year in a row.

Sutherland secured 77 votes to edge out Beth Mooney, who finished with 74 votes. The voting period was largely shaped by the ODI World Cup. It also included a three match T20I series against New Zealand last March and three ODIs against India ahead of the World Cup.

Sutherland also claimed the ODI player of the year award. She became the first cricketer to win back to back Belinda Clark Awards since Meg Lanning in 2014 and 2015. Current Australia coach Shelly Nitschke won the award four years in a row from 2009 to 2012. Karen Rolton and Lisa Sthalekar are others to have won it consecutively.

"That's pretty special to be alongside a few of those names," Sutherland said. "I think it's pretty cool and very surreal at the moment."

"I was pretty surprised to be honest. I hadn't put much thought into it around who was going to win. [An] absolutely special feeling and super grateful to receive the award from BC [Belinda Clark]."

Across nine ODIs, Sutherland scored 216 runs at an average of 43.20 with a highest score of 98 not out against England. She also took 19 wickets at 18.84. In three T20Is against New Zealand, she picked up eight wickets.

Mooney won the T20I player of the year award after scoring 166 runs at 83.00 in the New Zealand series.

Legspinner Alana King finished third in the overall voting. She took 13 wickets at the ODI World Cup, including a record 7 for 18 against South Africa.

Nicola Carey was earlier named domestic player of the year, while Caoimhe Bray received the Betty Wilson young cricketer of the year award.

The Cricket Australia awards are usually presented at a gala event. This year scheduling conflicts prevented a joint ceremony for the men’s and women’s teams. Last year, Travis Head received the Allan Border Medal at a hotel in Sri Lanka. The 2026 men’s award winners will be announced later.

"It looked different [but] still special obviously to have [Belinda Clark] there and do it in front of the team, most importantly," Sutherland said. "It'd be nice to get the whole of the Australian cricket world together to be able to celebrate, but it wasn't to be this year."

On Sunday, former Australia captain Alex Blackwell was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. Blackwell represented Australia from 2003 to 2018, playing 251 matches across formats, including 12 Tests, 144 ODIs and 95 T20Is.

In ODIs, she scored 3492 runs at 36.00, including her three international centuries. She was part of the ODI World Cup winning teams in 2005 and 2013 and led Australia to their first T20 World Cup title in 2010.