Head, Cummins favourites for Allan Border Medal

Travis Head could become the first South Australian to win the prestigious Allan Border Medal when the 2025 Australian Cricket Awards take place in Melbourne.

The Allan Border Medal and Belinda Clark Award will be bestowed upon Australia's leading male and female cricketers from the past 12 months in a lavish ceremony at Melbourne's Crown Casino on Monday.

Head is coming off a bumper 12 months across all three formats and has been tipped by stand-in captain Steve Smith to win the men's award.

The 31-year-old scored a staggering 1427 runs across all three formats in the 12-month polling period that began with Australia's home Test series against West Indies last January, and ended with the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Smith has the next-most runs with 806, while only Adam Zampa (31) played more games than Head (29) in the voting period.

A blistering 140 runs in his home Test match at the Adelaide Oval against India was an undeniable highlight for Head, and helped reignite Australia's series after their dismal loss in the series opener.

Since the Allan Border Medal was first presented in 2000, to Glenn McGrath, no South Australian has ever won the award.

The likes of Greg Blewett, Darren Lehmann and Jason Gillespie were all overlooked in the early 2000s during prize's early days.

No Victorian has ever won, either.

The award has been dominated by New South Wales players, with Michael Clarke, Steve Smith, David Warner, Shane Watson, Steve Waugh and Brett Lee among previous winners.

Test and one-day international captain, and 2019 Allan Border Medallist, Pat Cummins appears Head's biggest competition.

The paceman was recently named captain of the ICC's Test Team of the Year for picking up 37 wickets in nine Tests at an average of 24.02.

At the Twenty20 World Cup last year, Cummins recorded hat-tricks in consecutive games in the Caribbean - a feat unmatched in 20 years of T20I cricket.

Mitch Marsh, last year's winner, was dropped from the Test team during the recent India series and is not considered to be in contention.

Ash Gardner is vying to become one of only five women to win the Belinda Clark Award more than twice after a stellar 12 months.

The allrounder would join legendary former captain Meg Lanning and star allrounder Ellyse Perry on three wins if she were to pick up a third medal in four years.

The 27-year-old recorded her first international century during the recent multi-format Ashes - 102 in the third ODI in Hobart - and was Australia's leading ODI run-scorer in the voting period with 385 runs.

Annabel Sutherland and Beth Mooney, both important in sealing Australia's recent 16-0 Ashes whitewash, are also contenders.