Steve Smith, Allan Border medal
Cricket - Ashes test match - Australia v England - SCG, Sydney, Australia, January 8, 2018. Australia's captain Steve Smith holds a replica Ashes urn next to team mates after they won the fifth Ashes cricket test match and the series 4-0. Reuters / David Gray

Australia cricket captain Steve Smith was honoured with the prestigious Allan Border Medal on Monday for the second time in his career. The medal is handed out on an annual basis to the Australian cricketer who made the biggest impact across the three formats of the sport.

Smith's impeccable 2017 also helped him earn the Test player-of-the-year award. While David Warner bagged the One-day player of the year award, hard-hitting batsman Aaron Finch was the T20 player of the year.

During the voting period, Smith notched up a whopping 1,754 Test runs which included epic performances in India and most recently the 2017 Ashes against England. While Warner, with 1586 runs, proved to be a worthy runner-up, spin bowler Nathan Lyon finished just six votes behind the southpaw despite not playing any limited-overs cricket. Lyon finished 2017 as the leading Test wicket-taker in the world.

“I’ve worked really hard on my game over the last few years. For me, through the summer I probably wasn’t hitting the ball as well as I have but my mind was in a fantastic place. Whenever I feel like my mind is going off the job… I quickly recognise it and get my mind back where it needs to be. It’s about doing that over and over again for long periods of time. That’s the most pleasing thing for me, I have done it, sustained the pressure or certain situations," said Smith, regarded by many as Australia's best captain since Ricky Ponting.

2017 Ashes: Steve Smith re-writes history books

During January’s SCG Test against England, Smith became the first Aussie captain since Sir Donald Bradman to score over 600 runs in an Ashes series. Smith finished with 687 runs as Australia dominated England en route a 4-0 Ashes series victory.

"It’s been a pretty busy year in every sense. I play to try and help the team win, to stand up. It’s been challenging but I am really proud of the way I have been able to accomplish things. Scoring a second-innings hundred in India gave me incredible confidence, and the determination of a few innings during the Ashes, the resilience I showed myself, was really pleasing. It’s been a long year, and an enjoyable one."

Allan Border Medal -- Voting ballot (via The Herald Sun)

Steve Smith: 246 votes
David Warner: 162 votes
Nathan Lyon: 156 votes
Pat Cummins: 111 votes
Josh Hazlewood: 72 votes