Suns' Cameron Taylor wins BDCA Cricketer of Year for third time
READ MORE - All the BDCA 2018-19 award winners | PHOTOS
STRATHDALE-Maristians' all-rounder Cameron Taylor has become the fourth player in Bendigo District Cricket Association history to win the Cricketer of the Year for a third time.
Taylor was again crowned the BDCA's best in the eyes of the umpires by polling 16 votes on Wednesday night.
The award was tipped to be a two-horse race between Taylor and Huntly-North Epsom premiership star Adam Ward.
While those two finished first and second - Taylor edging out Ward by one vote - it was a tight leaderboard.
SUPERB SEASON: Strathdale-Maristians' all-rounder Cameron Taylor polled 16 votes on Wednesday night to win the BDCA Cricketer of the Year for a third time. He also won in 2016-17 and 2011-12. Picture: NONI HYETT
Rounding out the top five behind Taylor (16) and Ward (15) were Bendigo's Alex Pearson (14), Golden Square's Tim Wood (13) and White Hills' Mitch Winter-Irving (13).
Opening batsman Wood was the only non-all-rounder among the top five.
Taylor - a runaway No.1 in the Bendigo Advertiser BDCA MVP rankings - was rewarded for a home and away season in which he took a competition-best 46 wickets with his leg-spin and made 455 runs, while he was also the winner of the Champion Player with 1030 points.
Taylor's 1030 points were the most in the Champion Player since Andrew Price accumulated 1073 for Eaglehawk in 1993-94.
Taylor's triumph adds to his two previous BDCA Cricketer of the Year wins in 2016-17 (16 votes) and 2011-12 (18 votes).
He joins Kangaroo Flat's Adam Burns, Golden Square's Scott Johnson and Eaglehawk's Wayne Walsh as the only three-time winners of the Bill Stephenson Award since its inception in 1976.
Suns' Cameron Taylor wins BDCA Cricketer of Year for third time
Taylor's season included three three-vote performances:
Round 1 - v Eaglehawk: 26* & 4-43;
Round 4 - v Bendigo United: 12 & 7-97; and
Round 13 - v White Hills: 104*, 23*, 4-57 & 8-74.
As well as getting maximum votes in three games, Taylor also polled in four other matches for the Suns.
Taylor clinched the award from Ward with the last votes of the night for his 127 runs and 12 wickets in the Suns' outright win over White Hills in round 13.
Other Cricketer of the Year winners were - Second XI: Pavan Bade (Bendigo). Third XI: Scott Harper (Bendigo United).
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