2018 was a year to forget for the Australian men's team, with few highlights extending beyond the Newlands saga that ripped the heart out of the side.
However, that doesn't mean there's nothing to celebrate ahead of Monday night's Australian Cricket Awards.
A new name will be etched into the Allan Border Medal historybooks, with Steve Smith and David Warner - winners of the past four medals - ineligible for the award.
Given the year that was, the men's field will be much tighter, with standouts to vie for the major awards.
AUSSIE WORLDBEATERS: Belinda Clark Award reflects extraordinary depth of women's cricket
It seems it'll be a race of two for the big prize, with Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon two players to have made the greatest impact in 2018.
Considering Cummins had a more significant impact across formats, he may get across the line over the wily offie.
At the very least, Cummins' player-of-the-match performance in an ODI against England in Adelaide last January could see him just pip Lyon for the medal.
Both will be in the running for the Men's Test Player of the Year award, with Lyon's 49 wickets at 34.80 putting him top of the pile.
The Men's One Day International Player of the Year and Twenty20 International Player of the Year awards look destined to fall into the lap of Aaron Finch, although Shaun Marsh's sterling year in ODIs will keep him in the mix for the former. Don't dare discount Marcus Stoinis from either award.
MORE: The damning numbers behind Australia's painful 2018 in Test cricket
Few players did as well as consistently as Cummins and Lyon during the voting period (9 January 2018 to 7 January 2019).
In fact, no Test batsman averaged over 35 in the voting period, meaning a bowler looms likely to receive the gong for the first time in five years (Mitchell Johnson, 2014).
Finch was by far and away the most prolific batsman across all formats, but a stuttering end to his Test summer almost surely puts him well behind Cummins and Lyon.
The ODI and T20I skipper scored five centuries against the white ball, with his 172 against Zimbabwe breaking new ground as the highest international T20 score in history.
Andrew Tye had a strong year with the white ball, and was the most prolific bowler in T20Is in 2018 with 31 scalps at 18.93. Countryman Billy Stanlake slotted into third, with the pair sandwiching Pakistan leggie Shadab Khan.
AUSTRALIA LEADING RUN-SCORERS
ACROSS ALL FORMATS (VOTING PERIOD)
| Player | Mat | Inn | Runs | Ave | HS | 50s | 100s | |
| 1 | Aaron Finch | 33 | 38 | 1302 | 38.29 | 172 | 5 | 4 |
| 2 | Travis Head | 25 | 29 | 813 | 29.03 | 96 | 7 | 0 |
| 3 | Shaun Marsh | 17 | 26 | 760 | 29.23 | 131 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | Glenn Maxwell | 26 | 25 | 713 | 33.95 | 103* | 3 | 1 |
| 5 | Tim Paine | 19 | 28 | 613 | 27.86 | 62 | 2 | 0 |
| 6 | D'Arcy Short | 22 | 22 | 598 | 31.47 | 76 | 4 | 0 |
| 7 | Usman Khawaja | 10 | 19 | 592 | 32.88 | 141 | 4 | 1 |
| 8 | Marcus Stoinis | 28 | 24 | 494 | 24.70 | 87 | 4 | 0 |
| 9 | Mitchell Marsh | 14 | 21 | 453 | 21.57 | 96 | 3 | 0 |
| 10 | David Warner | 13 | 16 | 386 | 24.12 | 63 | 3 | 0 |
AUSTRALIA LEADING WICKET-TAKERS
ACROSS ALL FORMATS (VOTING PERIOD)
| Player | Mat | Inn | Wkts | Ave | BBI | 5W | |
| 1 | Nathan Lyon | 13 | 22 | 51 | 35.45 | 6/122 | 2 |
| 2 | Pat Cummins | 14 | 21 | 44 | 25.61 | 6/27 | 2 |
| 3 | Andrew Tye | 26 | 25 | 43 | 22.76 | 5/46 | 1 |
| 4 | Mitchell Starc | 17 | 25 | 41 | 36.00 | 5/34 | 1 |
| 5 | Josh Hazlewood | 14 | 21 | 33 | 34.93 | 3/39 | 0 |
| 6 | Billy Stanlake | 20 | 20 | 31 | 21.51 | 4/8 | 0 |
| 7 | Marcus Stoinis | 28 | 24 | 21 | 36.38 | 3/16 | 0 |
| 8 | Jhye Richardson | 9 | 9 | 14 | 30.00 | 3/92 | 0 |
| 9 | Kane Richardson | 9 | 9 | 14 | 26.64 | 3/33 | 0 |
| 10 | Ashton Agar | 18 | 18 | 13 | 39.84 | 3/27 | 0 |