Johannesburg, September 11:

Ricky Ponting’s Australia received a boost ahead of the Twenty20 world championships when his team swept four of the five top ICC awards.

Ponting himself won two, the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the cricketer of the year and the captain of the year award at a ceremony in the Sandton Convention Centre on Monday.

Matthew Hayden was named the one-day player of the year and fast bowler Shaun Tait, who missed out on the Twenty20 event due to injury, won the emerging player’s award. Australia picked up a fifth award away from the players when Simon Taufel was declared the best umpire for the fourth year in a row.

Pakistan’s prolific batsman Mohammad Yousuf prevented an Australian clean sweep by bagging the Test player of the year award for scoring 944 runs in 10 innings at 94.40 during the voting period of August 2006-August 2007.

Ponting, who was voted player of the year for the second successive year, said he was honoured to be feted by the cricket world. Ponting led Australia to an Ashes whitewash, Champions Trophy victory and a third consecutive World Cup title during the past year.

Yousuf, who has been banned by Pakistan for joining the rebel Indian Cricket League, said he was delighted to be named the Test player of the year. “This is the first time for a Pakistan player to win this award so I am particularly delighted with that,” the 33-year-old said in a video message from Lahore.

Mahela Jayawardene’s Sri Lanka won the Spirit of Cricket award, while Thomas Odoyo of Kenya was named the player of the year among non-Test nations. Indian seamer Jhulan Goswami picked up the women’s player of the year award, making up for the absence of any male compatriot among the nominees.