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on the eve of the inaugural twenty20 world championship, the international cricket council held its annual awards ceremony in johannesburg on monday night. it was an evening dominated by australia. after south australian paceman shaun tait was named emerging cricketer of the year, matthew hayden was presented with the one day player of the year award. australian captain ricky ponting was one of four nominess for the cricketer of the year. he was up against england batsman kevin pietersen, pakistan's mohammad yousuf, who'd already been named test cricketer of the year, and shivnarine chanderpaul of the west indies. the award was presented by icc president ray mali. upsound (english) "and the winner is ricky ponting." supercaption: ray mali, i.c.c. president ponting's outstanding year saw him average 82 in test cricket and over 50 in one day internationals. he also captained australia to a 5-0 ashes whitewash over england and a third consecutive world cup victory in the caribbean. the 32-year-old said the australian team raised its game to a new level over the last 12 months. soundbite (english) "luckily for us, that sort of momentum that we created through the champions trophy and then the ashes, spilled over into the world cup and we managed to play an unbelievable 12 months of cricket. so, for me, as an individual player and as a captain and part of the australian team, i think we all should be very proud of what we achieved." supercaption: ricky ponting, i.c.c. cricketer of the year. ponting, who was also named captain of the year, will now focus on australia's opening twenty20 match against zimbabwe in cape town on wednesday.