Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers' Association have used Day One of the Boxing Day Test to pay further homage to the late, great Shane Warne, opting to rename the Men's Test Player of the Year prize the Shane Warne Men's Test Player of the Year award.
Hailing from Melbourne's outer east and honing his craft in its Bayside suburbs, Warne's passion for Test cricket was matched only by his love of the Boxing Day Test.
Crowds attending the opening day of the traditional post-Christmas Test were asked to don wide-brimmed hats and zinc in honour of the proud Victorian, with many punters entering the Melbourne Cricket Ground clad like Warne at first slip in his pomp.
On-field and on-screen tributes were paid to champion the leg-spinner following his passing in March this year.
While Warne often regaled listeners with childhood memories spent sitting in the old Southern Stand as the teams of Greg Chappell, Kim Hughes and Allan Border did battle, the reconstructed stand on Brunton Avenue now bears his name.
A stand, a statue and now a perpetual trophy, the crรจme de la crรจme of Australia's Test team will now vie for the chance to earn the spin king's latest piece of posthumous tribute.
Recent winners of the award include the ilk of Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke, as well as more contemporary champions in Travis Head, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne.
Warne, himself, earned the gong in 2006 following his sublime Ashes series the year prior, a tour that saw leggie claim 40 scalps on British soil.
Making the announcement prior to lunch in Melbourne, Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley contended the amendment was befitting of such an incandescent star.
"As one of Australia's all-time greats, it is fitting we acknowledge Shane's extraordinary contribution to Test cricket by naming this award in his honour in perpetuity," said Hockley.
"Shane was a proud advocate of Test cricket and you only have to look around at all the fans who came out to the MCG in their floppy hats and zinc on Boxing Day to realise what a profound impact he had on the game."
Warne claimed an Australian record of 708 Test wickets across the course of his 145 Test career.
