Kallis, Ntini and de Villiers awarded

Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers and Makhaya Ntini have been awarded for their contributions to cricket in the past year at the annual South African Sports Awards in Johannesburg.

Kallis was the joint winner of the South African Sportsman of the Year award, with Rugby winger Bryan Habana. Kallis, who struck 1388 Test runs at 77.11 during the past 12 months, was also named the Test Player of the Year at the ICC Awards in October and shared the Player-of-the-Year award with Andrew Flintoff.

Ntini won the South African Sports Star of the Year award, while de Villiers was named the newcomer of the year. There was also a posthumous achievement award for the the late Krish Mackerdhuj, former president of the United Cricket Board.

"These awards are another accolade for the members of the Proteas team," Gerald Majola, chief executive of South Africa Cricket said. "They have flown the South African sports flag high at home and away throughout the past year. It is wonderful that these achievements, and those of the late Krish Mackerdhuj, have been acknowledged in this way."