The Stars BBL|13 Player of the Season has been shared between first time winner Hilton Cartwright, and captain Glenn Maxwell, who collects his second award, whilst Annabel Sutherland has gone back-to-back after winning the WBBL|09 Stars Player of the Season at the Cricket Victoria Awards.
Top Stars Honoured
Cartwright has been a constant for the Stars since his recruitment in BBL|09. The 32-year-old enjoyed one of his most consistent seasons, batting at 5 or 6 and guiding the Stars home on a number of occasions. He topped the scoring 4 times out of his 8 innings, including his player of the match performance against the Sixers on Boxing Day. Cartwright averaged 41.8 at a strike rate of 151.44 as one of the best finishers in the league. His fielding was again outstanding taking 5 catches.
Maxwell hit the ground running off the back of a huge campaign in the 2023 ICC Men's ODI World Cup. After injuring his arm in the opening game of the season, Maxwell lost none of his power, striking at an amazing 173.57, the most of the top 30 runs scorers in BBL|13. For the first time in his career, Maxwell was the club's leading wicket taker for the season, his standout performance coming against the Hurricanes where he took 3-29 along with 35* with the bat. It is Maxwell's second Player of the Season Award.
Final Votes:
36 Hilton Cartwright
36 Glenn Maxwell
21 Usama Mir
21 Nathan Coulter-Nile
Annabel Sutherland was the outstanding performer of WBBL|09 beating the competition's leading wicket taker, Sophie Day for the Stars Player of the Season. Sutherland again showed her class with both bat and ball, behind only Sophie Day, taking 23 wickets in the WBBL|09 regular season and leading the run scoring for Stars. At the age of just 22, this is Sutherland's second Player of the Season Award after winning the award last year for the first time.
Final Votes:
67 Annabel Sutherland
56 Sophie Day
38 Kim Garth
25 Meg Lanning
*Both awards were voted on by respective members of the Melbourne Stars coaching staff.