Australians dominate ICC World XI

Ricky Ponting: Dream captain for one-day and Test world XIs © Getty Images

Five Australian players were named in the world Test cricket team of the year at the inaugural ICC awards dinner at Alexandra Palace in London on Tuesday night. Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Jason Gillespie were named in the combined Test team, while Gilchrist, Ponting and Gillespie also made the one-day team of the year.

Ponting was named captain of both sides, and was delighted with the accolades, saying, "This is a great thrill and honour."

He described the inclusion of a raft of his Australian team-mates in the world XIs as a "testament to the strength of Australian cricket". And he continued by paying tribute to the Australian team. Ponting said, "This is a great recognition of the hard work and dedication these guys put into their cricket, not just this year but throughout their careers."

Ponting, the Australian captain, modestly expressed surprise with his individual honours. "I turned up tonight not expecting anything," he said, "and when you see some of the names who have missed out, you realise how lucky you are."

But Ponting was quick to back his home country when asked who would win if a game was played between his Australian side and the one-day XI chosen by the panel. He believed that Australia would sneak home "probably just by a run or two".

Votes were cast by a panel which included ten international captains, eight ICC umpires, seven ICC referees and 25 cricket legends and media representatives.

World one-day XI
1 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Chris Gayle, 4 Ricky Ponting (capt), 5 Brian Lara, 6 Virender Sehwag, 7 Jacques Kallis, 8 Andrew Flintoff, 9 Shaun Pollock, 10 Chaminda Vaas, 11 Jason Gillespie.

World Test XI
1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Rahul Dravid, 5 Brian Lara, 6 Jacques Kallis, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Shane Warne, 10 Jason Gillespie, 11 Stephen Harmison.