Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has been nominated in four categories - including the Player of the Year - for this year's International Cricket Council awards..jpg)
Ponting dominated the nominations alongside fellow international captains Rahul Dravid of India and Mahela Jayawardene from Sri Lanka, when the selections were announced in New Delhi on Wednesday (AEST).
The trio were each nominated for four awards - Cricketer of the Year, Test Player of the Year, Captain of the Year and One-Day Player of the Year.
The awards, which cover performances from August 1, 2005 to August 8, 2006, will be presented on October 23 in Mumbai during the ICC Champions Trophy tournament.
Dravid was named the ICC Player of the Year and Test Player of the Year in 2004, while Ponting was named the 2006 Wisden Cricketer of the Year.
Jayawardene scored 374, the fourth-highest individual innings in Test history, in the victory against South Africa earlier this year.
ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said the newly-introduced award for captains would recognise their importance to the game.
"Cricket is not just about runs, wickets and catches," he said.
"It is also about tactics and the way a side conducts itself and the captain plays a pivotal role in those aspects of the game."
"The Captain of the Year award is designed to recognise the leader's contribution to the game and to the spirit of cricket we all value so highly."
The nominations were selected by five former Test stars - Sunil Gavaskar, Allan Donald, Ian Healy, Arjuna Ranatunga and Waqar Younis.
Other Australian nominees include Shane Warne, Michael Hussey, Brett Lee and Adam Gilchrist.
Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff - the 2005 Player of the Year - Pakistan batsmen Mohammed Yousuf and Younis Khan, England spinner Monty Panesar and South African fast bowler Makhaya Ntini were also nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for cricketer of the year.
The ICC have also introduced a Women's Cricketer of the Year award for which Australians Karen Rolton and Cathryn Fitzpatrick were nominated.
Cricketer of the Year: Ricky Ponting (Australia), Shane Warne (Australia), Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka), Michael Hussey (Australia), Andrew Flintoff (England), Mohammed Yousuf (Pakistan), Rahul Dravid (India), Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka), Younis Khan (Pakistan), Monty Panesar (England), Brett Lee (Australia), Makhaya Ntini (South Africa), Adam Gilchrist (Australia)
Test Player of the Year: Michael Hussey (Australia), Ricky Ponting (Australia), Mohammed Yousuf (Pakistan), Andrew Flintoff (England), Shane Warne (Australia), Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka), Kumar Sangakarra (Sri Lanka), Rahul Dravid (India), Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka), Kevin Pietersen (England), Younis Khan (Pakistan), Matthew Hayden (Australia), Makhaya Ntini (South Africa)
One-day Player of the Year: Yuvraj Singh (India), Michael Hussey (Australia), Ricky Ponting (Australia), Shane Bond (New Zealand), Irfan Pathan (India), Andrew Flintoff (England), Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka), Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka), Rahul Dravid (India), Kevin Pietersen (England), Mohammed Yousuf (Pakistan), Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa), Brett Lee (Australia), Shahid Afridi (Pakistan), INew Zealandamam-ul Haq (Pakistan), Adam Gilchrist (Australia), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)
Emerging Player of the Year: Monty Panesar (England), Alastair Cook (England), Denesh Ramdin (West Indies), Malinga Bandara (Sri Lanka), Mohammed Asif (Pakistan), Upul Tharanga (Sri Lanka), Ian Bell (England), Shahriar Nafees (Bangladesh)
Captain of the Year: Michael Vaughan (England), Rahul Dravid (India), Ricky Ponting (Australia), Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka).
Umpire of the Year: Simon Taufel (Australia), Aleem Dar (Pakistan), Rudi Koertzen (South Africa)
Women's Cricketer of the Year: Karen Rolton (Australia), Cathryn Fitzpatrick (Australia), Anjum Chopra (India), Neetu David (India), Claire Taylor (England), Katherine Brunt (England), Emily Drumm (New Zealand)
