MUMBAI, India (Reuters) – Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has matched compatriot Ricky Ponting’s feat of winning the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Cricketer-of-the-Year award twice, the governing body said yesterday.

The 33-year-old Johnson won the Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for the second time after winning the award in 2009 and was also named the ICC Test Cricketer-of-the-Year. Former Australia captain Ponting won the title in 2006 and 2007.
Left-arm paceman Johnson fired Australia to a 5-0 Ashes sweep of England and a 2-1 series win in South Africa between August 2013 and September 2014, taking 59 Test wickets at an average of 15.23.
“Aggressive fast bowlers are something you’d have seen back in the day with the likes of (Dennis) Lillee and (Jeff) Thomson,” Johnson said in an ICC statement.
“For me, it’s nice to be able to contribute to the team and do the job that I’ve always thought I’ve been able to do.
“This is something that I’ll be able to look back on in time when my career is over and be exceptionally proud of.”
Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara, the winner in 2012, captain Angelo Mathews and his South African counterpart AB de Villiers were the other contenders for cricketer-of-the-year honours.
de Villiers won the ICC one-day international Cricketer-of-the-Year while England’s Gary Ballance was named the ICC Emerging Cricketer-of-the-Year.

Awards list:
ICC Cricketer-of-the-Year – Mitchell Johnson
Test Cricketer-of-the-Year – Mitchell Johnson
Women’s ODI Cricketer-of-the-Year – Sarah Taylor
ODI Cricketer-of-the-Year – AB de Villiers
Emerging Cricketer-of-the-Year – Gary Balance
Associate and Affiliate Cricketer-of-the-Year – Preston Mommsen
T20 International Performance-of-the-Year – Aaron Finch
T20I Women’s Cricketer-of-the-Year – Meg Lanning
Spirit-of-Cricket Award – Katherine Brunt
Umpire-of-the-Year – Richard Kettleborough
LG People’s Choice – Bhuvneshwar Kumar
ICC Test Team-of-the-Year David Warner, Kane Williamson, Kumar Sangakkara, AB de Villiers (wkp.), Joe Root, Angelo Mathews (capt.), Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Broad, Dale Steyn, Rangana Herath, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor (12th man)
ICC ODI Team-of-the-Year Mohammad Hafeez, Quinton de Kock, Virat Kohli, George Bailey, AB de Villiers, MS Dhoni (capt. & wkp.), Dwayne Bravo, James Faulkner, Dale Steyn, Mohammed Shami, Ajantha Mendis, Rohit Sharma (12th man).