Ponting wins Test Player of Year honours at ICC Awards

Australian captain Ricky Ponting was tonight named international cricket's Test Player of the Year at the ICC Awards in Mumbai.

The 31-year-old Tasmanian topped the poll ahead of team-mate Michael Hussey, Pakistan's Mohammed Yousuf and spinners Muttiah Muralidaran of Sri Lanka and Australia's Shane Warne.

ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed said: "On behalf of the ICC, I would like to congratulate Ricky on winning this award, which recognises his prolific year.

"The fact this award was voted for by Ricky's peers and many vastly experienced former players and observers of the game shows the high regard in which he is held by the cricketing world and he is a worthy winner."

During the voting period of 1 August 2005 to 8 August 2006, Ponting played 16 Tests. He scored 1,791 runs at an average of 68.88. The Australian skipper had an astonishing run of success during that period, scoring hundreds in both innings of Test matches in three different games, against the West Indies at Brisbane and against South Africa in Sydney and Durban.

His 156 at Old Trafford against England was one of the great Ashes innings of all time, while his valuable 118* against Bangladesh steered his side to a three-wicket victory.

Earlier in the evening, Ponting was been named in both the ODI and Test teams of the Year, as chosen by the five-man Selection Panel consisting of Sunil Gavaskar, Arjuna Ranatunga, Waqar Younis, Allan Donald and Ian Healy.

Ponting is the third recipient of the Test Player of the Year award following on from Jacques Kallis of South Africa last year and India's Rahul Dravid in 2004.

The Test Player of the Year was one of ten individual and team honours handed out during the ICC Awards, presented by Hyundai in association with FICA (the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations). The event, held at the Taj Lands End Hotel, Mumbai, recognises cricket's star performers over a 12-month period.

Voting for the Test Player of the Year was completed by the 56-member ICC Awards voting Academy who cast a 3-2-1 vote (3 votes being the greater value) from the list of nominees, with the votes tallied to produce a winner.

The voting Academy included the 10 ICC Full Member captains, the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Referees, the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and several other legends of the game and respected members of the media.

The trophy, produced by Swarovski, features a crystal cricket ball studded with over 4200 Swarovski crystal chantons, cusped in a hand which extends from an aluminium base. The hand represents the theme of "breaking through" in pursuit of excellence.

The trophy features a red crystal ball, weighs 1.2 kilograms, is 30 centimetres high and 11 centimetres in width.