Allrounder Shane Watson beat Michael Clarke on a countback to claim Cricket Australia’s One-Day International Player of the Year Award on Monday night.

Vice-captain Watson and his skipper Clarke polled 19 votes each in the voting period from February 6 2011 to 24 February 2012.

The award went to Watson because he had more three-votes than Clarke.

Watson broke down with calf and hamstring injuries in South Africa in November. The NSW star didn’t feature in the home summer of ODIs until February 26 2012, when he was acting captain for the injured Clarke in Sydney.

Watson still managed to score 833 runs at 55.53 including a highest score of 185 not out in 17 ODI matches during the voting period and claimed 11 wickets.

“You always dream of those days. Everything I tried did come off,” Watson said on Monday night of his 185 not out in Bangladesh.

Clarke hit 871 runs at 62.21 in 22 matches.

Left-arm quick Mitchell Johnson was third in the ODI award with 17 votes.