Ricky Ponting knows something about clean-sweeps, and so in the same summer his side regained the Ashes 5-0 Australia's peerless batsman won all three major awards at tonight's Allan Border Medal count.
Ponting confirmed his favouritism by easily winning his third medal as Australia's best player of the past year, and also won the Test and One-Day awards.
Ponting's overall victory followed his medal wins in 2004 and 2006, which made him the only player in the award's eight-year history to have won three times.
He is now the first player to have won all three major categories.
He polled 107 votes awarded by players, media and umpires across Australia's 10 Tests and 28 one-day internationals in a voting system where Test matches were weighted almost three times heavily to balance the gap in the number of matches.
The count became a predictable one once Ponting was named best Test player, and runner-up Mike Hussey (58) was a distant 49 votes behind his captain. Shane Warne was third on 56 and Adam Gilchrist fourth on 54.
Ponting's night of triumph capped an almost perfect year for the world champions, who won all 10 Tests during the voting period, as well as last summer's tri-series, another tri-series in Malaysia and the Champions Trophy in India.
The highlight of the campaign was undoubtedly the regaining of the Ashes from England, and Ponting's side became the first since Warwick Armstrong's team of 1920-21 to win an Ashes series in a five-match clean-sweep.
Australia has only lost one match this summer - to England in last Friday's one-dayer - and are on their way to claiming another tri-series trophy against either New Zealand or England, who tomorrow play each other for a spot in the finals.
Ponting, 32, came from behind to win the One-Day award and beat Andrew Symonds by two votes courtesy of his century against the Kiwis last night at the MCG, while his superb form through the Test year earned him victory, again by two votes from Shane Warne.
In other awards, West Australian opener Chris Rogers won the State Player of the Year award, Tasmanian quick Ben Hilfenhaus was named Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year and Southern Stars vice-captain Lisa Sthalekar won the Women's International Player of the Year.
- ADAM COOPER