Rolton and Nitschke win Commonwealth Bank awards

Karen Rolton and Shelley Nitschke have won the Commonwealth Bank player awards for their feats for Australia this year. There was stiff competition for the accolades after another successful campaign for the side that won the World Cup in South Africa and beat England and New Zealand in one-day series.

Rolton, who won A$5000, picked up the Player of the Year prize for her all-round contributions, which included 185 runs and three wickets in Tests, and 664 one-day runs to go with 19 wickets. It's the latest honour for Rolton, who was recently named Australia's captain in place of the retired Belinda Clark, after she led the side to a home series cleansweep on Tuesday in the one-dayers against India.

Nitschke, Rolton's South Australia team-mate, picked up the Best New Talent award and A$2000 for bagging a host of wickets with her offspin. She was Australia's leading wicket-taker in the World Cup, and collected 24 victims in the 12 one-dayers. She also contributed 175 runs in the unsuccessful two-Test Ashes campaign.

Rolton was delighted to accept the prize. "It's nice to win such awards," she said, "but cricket is a team sport and Australia's success over the past 12 months is a result of our team supporting each other and working together."