Australian Twenty20 captain Michael Clarke says he is looking forward to the newest form of the game receiving more recognition in coming seasons with Twenty20 matches expected to be included in voting for the Allan Border Medal for the first time from next year.
With Twenty20 cricket captivating audiences around the world - after record crowds flocked to Australia's domestic Big Bash competition this summer - one of the major surprises of Monday night's Border Medal count was the fact that Australia's Twenty20 matches were not included in the voting and there was no formal recognition of the game at all.
In contrast, all of Australia's Test and one-day internationals over the preceding 12 months counted towards the final vote while there were also separate awards for Australia's Test and one-day players of the year.
However with Australia playing an increasing number of Twenty20 internationals - with the team to play four matches alone (two in Australia against the West Indies and two in New Zealand) within a week at the end of February followed by the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies in May; Clarke says the time has come for those players that play in the new format to receive recognition of their achievements.
"Correct me if I am wrong but I think that will be happening (next season)," Clarke said on Wednesday when asked if it was time for Twenty20 internationals to be included in Border Medal voting.
"The reason that didn't happen this year is there were only a couple of one-off games over the last 12-month period but now, with the amount of cricket we have got and the Twenty20 World Cup coming up, there should be some recognition."
"Twenty20 is bringing a lot of new people to the game which is great and I really think it is another (legitimate) form of the game now."
"We have got Tests, one-dayers and now Twenty20 so the guys that perform well in that form of the game deserve that recognition."
While Clarke's immediate focus is Friday night's final 50-over game of the season against the West Indies at the MCG; he said he was already looking forward to the upcoming clutch of Twenty20 internationals.
For new skipper Clarke it will be his best opportunity to mould the team into a unit good enough to win the ICC World Twenty20 in May and make amends for Australia's poor performance in last year's tournament in England.
"We have four games in a row so that will really be good preparation for us," he said.
"It's a great chance for the whole squad to get together and really use the next four games as a platform for the Twenty20 World Cup."
"These are our last four (Twenty20) games before the (Twenty20) World Cup and as a group we need to make the most of them."
"We have some very good individual players that have had success in the KFC Big Bash and in the IPL but we need to be playing well as a team and it's important we continue on from beating the world champions (Pakistan) in our last (Twenty20 international) recently."
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