Medal contender Head named top one-day player at awards

If Head wins, he would be the first South Australian to take out the top men's award.

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

Head won the one-day international award with 14 votes, two ahead of Alex Carey.

Ashleigh Gardner won the women's one-day prize and injured paceman Josh Hazlewood was named the top men's Test player.

It is also the first time Gardner, a major Clark Medal contender, and Hazlewood have won in those categories.

Earlier on Monday, Boxing Day Test sensation Sam Konstas was named the Bradman young men's cricketer of the year.

West Australian Chloe Ainsworth won the Betty Wilson award for the top young women's cricketer, while Beau Webster and Georgia Voll took the domestic awards.

Head is on the Test tour of Sri Lanka and Hazlewood also did not attend the Melbourne function, while Gardner accepted her award as she and the rest of the Australian team celebrate their Ashes whitewash.

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.

Australia skipper Pat Cummins is another contender for the Allan Border Medal. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS)

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 first match in Perth.

Since the Allan Border Medal was first presented in 2000, to Glenn McGrath, no South Australian or Victorian has won the top men's award.

Mitch Marsh, last year's winner, was dropped from the Test team during the India series and is not seen as a contender.

Ash Gardner is favourite to win the Belinda Clark Award after a terrific year. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)

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 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.