Mahela captain of the year

Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene was declared the inaugural captain of the year at the third International Cricket Council (ICC) annual awards on Friday.

Jayawardene, standing in for the injured Marvan Atapattu, inspired his side as both batsman and leader to a 5-0 one-day rout over hosts England and subsequently won a test series at home against South Africa. Performances in the period between Aug. 1, 2005, and Aug. 8 this year were taken into consideration. "The team has done well, a captain is as good as his team," Jayawardene told a news conference.

Australia Michael Hussey was declared one-day international player of the year. Australia's Karen Rolton won the inaugural women's player of the year award and compatriot Simon Taufel was named umpire of the year for the third year running. India's Rahul Dravid was named captain of a test squad which
includes six Australians.

Test team: Matthew Hayden (Australia), Michael Hussey (Australia), Ricky Ponting (Australia), Rahul Dravid (India,captain), Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), Andrew Flintoff (England), Shane Warne (Australia),
Makhaya Ntini (South Africa), Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka),
Glenn McGrath (Australia).

12th man: Brett Lee (Australia). One-day team: Adam Gilchrist (Australia), Mahendra Dhoni (India), Ponting, Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka, captain),
Yuvraj Singh (India), Hussey, Flintoff, Irfan Pathan (India), Lee, Shane Bond (New Zealand), Muralitharan. 12th man: Andrew Symonds (Australia).