(REUTERS) – Australia’s Ashes hero Mitchell Johnson denied Michael Clarke a hat-trick when the paceman edged his skipper in a tight vote to pick up a maiden Allan Border medal yesterday.

The 32-year-old, adjudged man-of-the-series in Australia’s 5-0 Ashes triumph over England, garnered 168 votes, 12 more than his captain, to cap a spectacular comeback by claiming his country’s most prestigious individual award.
“It has been an amazing journey coming back from injury, having a lot of doubters out there,” said Johnson, who collected more wickets than any of his compatriots across three formats of the game.
“But I just knew in my own heart that if I had that opportunity that I could make the most of it,” said the left-arm paceman, who was named International Cricket Council’s International Player-of-the-Year in 2009.
Tasmanian James Faulkner, whose scintillating late assault powered Australia to a thrilling one-wicket win over England in the Brisbane one-dayer on Friday, came third with 121 votes in the poll drawn from fellow players, the media and umpires.
Clarke, however, could not be denied Australia’s Test Player-of-the-Year award, while George Bailey (one-day internationals) and Aaron Finch (Twenty20) won honours in the shorter formats.