Sean Abbott has been named Australia's Young Cricketer of the Year at the Allan Border Medal, capping a traumatic year for the NSW allrounder.
Abbott did not attend the award ceremony at Carriageworks in Sydney on Tuesday night, due to his commitments with the Sydney Sixers ahead of Wednesday's Big Bash League final in Canberra.
However he thanked his family, friends and teammates for helping to win the award.
"I feel privileged to receive such an award, especially after a couple of good seasons in a row on the field and some tough off seasons pushing myself to continually improve," he said.
"I feel that this is a reward for a lot of good work and finally putting some consistent good performances together.
"I am looking to improve my cricket every day and to keep putting good performances on the board for the NSW Blues and the Sydney Sixers and if I continue to perform consistently well, hopefully contribute to the Australian cricket team down the track."
Following Phil Hughes' death, after he was struck by a bouncer delivered by Abbott in a Sheffield Shield game at the SCG in November, the 22-year-old has shown maturity and courage to not only return to the field, but thrive.
He almost single-handedly won NSW its Sheffield Shield clash against Queensland in what was the first match since Hughes' death when he claimed 6-14 in the second innings to rout the Bulls.
Abbott has also been a key figure in the Sixers' charge to the BBL final.
Hughes won the Bradman medal in 2009 shortly before he received his first Test cap.
Abbott was the overwhelming winner of the award, polling 42 per cent of the votes, well ahead of Gurinder Sandhu (13 per cent of the votes).
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