Watson may be second man after Ponting to win back-to-back Allan Border Medals

SYDNEY - Australian all-rounder Shane Watson is poised to follow in the footsteps of Ricky Ponting and become just the second man to pick up the coveted Alan Border Medal two years running.

Watson, who won last year’s award when considered “a near certainty” by Fox Sports Stats, is likely to be challenged most strongly by Michael Hussey and Brad Haddin.

Considering Hussey was on the verge of being dumped before the opening Test of the failed Ashes series and Haddin missed 16 of a possible 50 matches in the voting period, the opener can start preparing his acceptance speech.

Australia played 11 Tests, 25 ODIS and 14 T20 matches in that time.

The medal is based on player, umpire and media votes for the matches. Test votes have a greater weighting for each player’s Allan Border Medal total.

According to Fox Sports, 2010 has been the toughest period for Australian cricket and Watson has stood out with his all-round achievements.

He has scored 450 more runs than any of his teammates in the voting period. The only query was his inability to turn his solid starts into big centuries. He passed 50 on 17 occasions but reached triple figures only twice. With the ball, he has made crucial breakthroughs for his captains and had a better average of all the bowlers apart from the impressive Ryan Harris. (ANI)