Ponting dominates ICC awards nominations

Australian skipper Ricky Ponting [Images] leads the nominations for this year's International Cricket Council (ICC [Images]) annual awards, figuring in as many as four individual categories.

The 32-year-old Ponting, who led Australia to an unprecedented hat-trick of World Cup titles in West Indies [Images] in April, is in the race to retain both the Cricketer of the Year and Test Player of the Year awards.

He has also been nominated for ODI Player of the Year and Captain of the Year awards as per the preliminary list released by ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed [Images] at a news conference on Tuesday.

The shortlist was made by a five-man selection panel headed by former India captain Sunil Gavaskar [Images] for the one-year period starting from Aug. 9, 2006.

The awards function will be held in Johannesburg on September 10, a day before the start of the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup.

Sri Lanka [Images] captain Mahela Jayawardene [Images], who led his country to the World Cup final this year, and seven others are in the race for three awards each.

Jayawardene, chosen Captain of the Year last year, is the only other contender for the honour besides Ponting.

Australia's retired paceman Glenn McGrath and batsmen Michael Hussey and Matthew Hayden [Images] are on the lists for Cricketer of the Year, Test Player of the Year and ODI Player of the Year.

The batting trio of England's [Images] Kevin Pietersen [Images], Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf [Images], South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock [Images] and West Indies Shivnarine Chanderpaul [Images] as well as Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan are also contenders in the above three categories.

Australian Simon Taufel is in line for the Umpire of the Year accolade for the fourth straight year.

Australian pacemen Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson are among seven who have been nominated for the Emerging Player award while 13 are in the race for the Women's Player of the Year award.

The ICC has also introduced an award for ODI Player of the Year from among Associate member countries.

List of Nominees � Individual Awards (each category to be reduced to a shortlist on or around 4 September)

Test Player:
Mohammad Asif [Images] (Pak)
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)
Stuart Clark (Aus)
Matthew Hayden (Aus)
Michael Hussey (Aus)
Mahela Jayawardena (SL)
Zaheer Khan [Images] (Ind)
Anil Kumble (Ind)
Brian Lara [Images] (WI)
Glenn McGrath (Aus)
Muttiah Muralidaran (SL)
Makhaya Ntini [Images] (SA)
Monty Panesar [Images] (Eng)
Kevin Pietersen (Eng)
Shaun Pollock (SA)
Ricky Ponting (Aus)
Kumar Sangakkara (SL)
Ryan Sidebottom (Eng)
Shane Warne [Images] (Aus)
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)

ODI Player:
Shane Bond [Images] (NZ)
Mark Boucher [Images] (SA)
Nathan Bracken [Images] (Aus)
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)
Stuart Clark (Aus)
Michael Clarke [Images] (Aus)
Matthew Hayden (Aus)
Michael Hussey (Aus)
Mahela Jayawardena (SL)
Jacques Kallis [Images] (SA)
Brett Lee [Images] (Aus)
Glenn McGrath (Aus)
Muttiah Muralidaran (SL)
Jacob Oram [Images] (NZ)
Kevin Pietersen (Eng)
Shaun Pollock (SA)
Ricky Ponting (Aus)
Yuvraj Singh [Images] (Ind)
Mohammed Yousuf (Pak)

Emerging Player:
Ravinder Bopara (Eng)
Shakib Al Hasan (Bang)
Mitchell Johnson (Aus)
Mushfiqur Rahim (Bang)
Shaun Tait (Aus)
Ross Taylor (NZ)
Chris Tremlett (Eng)

Cricketer of the Year:
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)
Matthew Hayden (Aus)
Michael Hussey (Aus)
Mahela Jayawardena (SL)
Jacques Kallis (SA)
Glenn McGrath (Aus)
Muttiah Muralidaran (SL)
Kevin Pietersen (Eng)
Shaun Pollock (SA)
Ricky Ponting (Aus)
Kumar Sangakkara (SL)
Mohammed Yousuf (Pak)

Associate ODI Player of the Year:
Ashish Bagai (Can)
Andre Botha (Ire)
John Davison (Can)
Trent Johnston (Ire)
Dwayne Leverock (Ber)
Kyle McCallan (Ire)
Tanmay Mishra (Ken)
Eoin Morgan (Ire)
Ashif Mulla (Can)
Niall O'Brien (Ire)
Thomas Odoyo (Ken)
Peter Ongondo (Ken)
Irving Romaine (Ber)
Abdool Samad (Can)
Ryan Ten Doeschate (Neth)
Steve Tikolo [Images] (Ken)
Hiren Varaiya (Ken)
Ryan Watson (Sco)

Women's Cricketer of the Year:
Caitriona Beggs (Ire)
Holly Colvin (Eng)
Rumeli Dhar (Ind)
Maria Fahey (NZ)
Jhulan Goswami (Ind)
Ashlyn Kilowan (SA)
Johmari Logtenberg (SA)
Urooj Mumtaz Khan (Pak)
Shelley Nitschke (Aus)
Rebecca Rolls (NZ)
Sajida Shah (Pak)
Lisa Sthalekar (Aus)
Claire Taylor (Eng)

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