Pat Cummins and Meg Lanning in awkward gaffe at Australian Cricket Awards

Pat Cummins and Meg Lanning are some of Australia's finest cricketers on the field. But take them off the field and put them in front of an autocue and they don't really excel.

At least that was the case on Monday night at the Australian Cricket Awards, when Cummins and Lanning were tasked with addressing the audience before the actual awards were announced. The men's and women's captains stumbled over their words a few times, before Cummins confessed: “We wrote these scripts ourselves."

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The chat then talked to statues, with Lanning asking Cummins: “Talking of statues, do you think we’ll ever see Scotty Boland’s statue at the MCG?” Cummins then replied: “I hope so. I’d vote for that. I know all the MCG crowd wants to see that. Sorry Uzzie (Khawaja), there is one people’s champ.”

Things then took an embarrassing turn when Lanning didn't appear to realise it was her turn to speak, with Cummins looking awkwardly at the autocue in silence. The captains then broke out into laughter as Lanning realised her gaffe, with the audience joining in.

“Is it my turn? It’s actually my turn to speak," Lanning said with a laugh. After composing herself she said: “Just really good luck to everyone tonight, hope it’s a great evening and hope you have fun.”

Cummins added: “Far too much of us. Let’s get the night started. Thank you.” Cummins and Lanning then shared a laugh as they walked off the stage rather embarrassed.

Cricket fans and commentators saw the funny side of the awkward scenes, with many rejoicing over the fact that we've finally found something Cummins isn't good at. Scott Bailey of AAP tweeted: “Is it possible that after 30 years, the world has discovered something Pat Cummins can’t do? Read off an autocue. (Don’t blame him, it’s bloody hard).”

Steve Smith makes history with fourth Allan Border Medal

When the awards got underway, Steve Smith made some impressive history as he won his fourth Allan Border Medal - just the third player to achieve the feat. He joins fellow former captains Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke in winning the highest honour in Australian men's cricket four times.

"I hope there's more to come," he told reporters after the ceremony. "That's what I strive for every day, to be the best player that I can be.

"I made some adjustments in the last six months. It took me a while to do, I had to work through a few things. It's started to work well for me. Hopefully I can just keep getting better and better.

“It’s very humbling, it makes me feel quite old. I certainly don’t play the game for these reasons. I play to be the best player I can be and help my team have success, whether I’m playing for Australia or New South Wales or the Sixers."

Beth Mooney won the Belinda Clark award for best women's payer, while also being named the women's ODI player of the year. "You don't play the game of cricket to win these awards or for personal accolades, you play for team success, and we certainly had a whole bunch of that this year, which was amazing to be a part of," she said.

Usman Khawaja won the inaugural Shane Warne award for men's Test player of the year, while David Warner was named the men's ODI player of the year. Marcus Stoinis and Tahlia McGrath were named men's and women's T20I players of the year.

Australia Cricket Awards winners:

• Belinda Clark Award - Beth Mooney (129 votes)

• Allan Border Medal - Steve Smith (171 votes)

• Women's ODI Player of the Year - Beth Mooney

• Women's T20I Player of the Year - Tahlia McGrath

• Shane Warne Men's Test Player of the Year - Usman Khawaja

• Men's ODI Player of the Year - David Warner

• Men's T20I Player of the Year - Marcus Stoinis

• Women's Domestic Player of the Year - Annabel Sutherland

• Men's Domestic Player of the Year - Michael Neser

• Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year - Courtney Seppel

• Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year - Lance Morris

• Community Champion Award - Usman Khawaja

• Woolworths Cricket Blaster of the Year - Mabel Tovey

• Australian Cricket Hall of Fame inductees - Marg Jennings and Ian Redpath

with AAP

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