If it aint a Crowe,it may as well be a Clarke

As the best performing nominees were announced for their outstanding roles in the previous year,five men with crisp bow-ties and expensive tuxedos stared nervously into the camera

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As the best performing nominees were announced for their outstanding roles in the previous year,five men with crisp bow-ties and expensive tuxedos stared nervously into the camera. On the silver screen behind the announcer,their eager faces formed boxes of anticipation,before the drum-roll rattled on cue for the final announcement

And the award goes to, said the high profile host. The most obvious choice of them all. Michael Clarke. In

Australia,on the day of the Oscars,the prize for The Cricketer beat The Artist by a fair distance. Jean Dujardin who? Down Under,if it aint a Crowe,it may as well be a Clarke.

From Lindisfarne in Hobart to the Riverside Quay in Melbourne to Toowong in Brisbane,the Allan Border Medal was the most widely watched prime-time television event in all of Australia. The reasons were simple. One,the Oscars began at 1 pm in the afternoon. Two,an Australian was more certain to win the big prize than when the late Perth-boy Heath Ledger was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 2009.

The AB Medal is by the Aussies,of the Aussies and for the Aussies. Its the ultimate back-patting glitter-fashion-and-red carpet night that Peter Roebuck called the greatest load of hooey soon after the 2011 event. But following their 4-0 whitewash of the Indians in the Test series,the occasion was appreciated a lot more than it was following the Ashes defeat on home soil.

So thanks to the crushing victories over India that turned Australias transitioning side into world beaters,David Warner won the Bradman Young Player of the Year award almost solely on the basis of his quickest century by an opener,in Perth.

Likewise with Clarke,who pulled off both Test player of the year and the big one the AB Medal for his tremendous run with both bat and mind against MS Dhonis side earlier this summer.

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Thank you, Clarke said,holding up a glass of champagne. Many thousands around Australia held their beer mugs back to their nations cricket captain. Many more than when Dujardin cried Merci earlier in the afternoon for the equivalent award in Los Angeles. Mercy? None of it against the Indians for sure.