Ponting named cricketer of the year

Australian captain Ricky Ponting has been named cricketer of the year at the third annual International Cricket Council award event.

Performances between August 1 2005 and August 8 2006 were included within the awards, and Ponting averaged 68.88 in Tests and 48.42 in ODIs during this period to pick up the cricketer of the year award.

Ponting also picked up the Test Player of the Year award, while team-mate Michael Hussey picked up the ODI Player of the Year award for averaging 64.08 during the above period.

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene was named the inaugural captain of the year for leading his team in the absence of Marvan Atapattu to a 5-0 ODI series win over England and a Test series win over South Africa at home.

England batsman Ian Bell was named the emerging player of the year.

Karen Rolton from Australia picked up the inaugural women’s player of the year award and fellow Australian Simon Taufel was named umpire of the year for the third straight year.

England picked up the spirit of cricket award.

Teams of the year:

Test team: Matthew Hayden (Australia), Michael Hussey (Australia), Ricky Ponting (Australia), Rahul Dravid (India, captain), Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka, wicketkeeper), Andrew Flintoff (England), Shane Warne (Australia), Makhaya Ntini (South Africa), Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka), Glenn McGrath (Australia). 12th man: Brett Lee (Australia).

One-day team: Adam Gilchrist (Australia), Mahendra Dhoni (India), Ricky Ponting (Australia), Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka, captain), Yuvraj Singh (India), Michael Hussey (Australia), Andrew Flintoff (England), Irfan Pathan (India), Brett Lee (Australia), Shane Bond (New Zealand), Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka). 12th man: Andrew Symonds (Australia).