18:56 GMT: That's that, then. All the awards have been dished out, the losers are left to watch on as the winners enjoy a group photograph on stage and that cheesecake I ate earlier has returned to haunt me. Thanks for sticking with us through proceedings. Cheers.

18:53 GMT: The ultimate prize goes the way of not Dhoni, not Gambhir, not Strauss... but triumphant Aussie pace ace Mitchell Johnson. He took 80 Test wickets from August 2008 to August 2009, 31 more five-day scalps than his closest competitor. He says the highlight of his past 12 months was getting rid of Graeme Smith in Sydney for a consolation win Down Under.

18:47 GMT: We have to sit through the umpteenth commercial break of the event. Hang in there, while we do the same. One more award to go - Cricketer of the Year.

18:46 GMT: 2009's Women's Cricketer of the Year is England's Claire Taylor. Team-mate Charlotte Edwards and Australia's Shelley Nitschke lose out.

18:39 GMT: In your face, England. India's Gambhir takes it! He says it has been "a dream run" and looks forward to building on his purple patch with the bat. He pinpoints his match-saving knock against the Kiwis as the best of his August-to-August.

18:37 GMT: The big one has arrived and the nominees for the Test Player of the Year award are Gambhir, Johnson, Thilan Samaraweera and Andrew Strauss.

18:34 GMT: On we carry, and next up is the ODI Player of the Year. It's three Indians versus one West Indian.Who is it going to be? Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Mahendra Dhoni, Virender Sehwag or Yuvraj Singh? Shaun Pollock reveals that Dhoni is the winner! MS ain't around, so Gambhir collects the award on his captain's behalf.

18:25 GMT: A few of the Test Team of the Year selections are enjoying the limelight, being picked out around the crowd for a word or two on their respective performances. Johnson jokes, Gambhir is serious, while Strauss says he is quite humbled. He also says he isn't surprised that Dhoni is the captain of the Team.

18:25 GMT: Ian Chappell steps up to announce the Test Team of the Year, which is: Gautam Gambhir (India), Andrew Strauss (England), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Sachin Tendulkar (India), Thilan Samaraweera (Sri Lanka), Michael Clarke (Australia), Mahendra Dhoni (India, captain), Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh), Mitchell Johnson (Australia), Stuart Broad (England), Dale Steyn (South Africa). Dhoni isn't around, so Strauss accepts the gong on the team's behalf. Meanwhile, the Proteas have found consolation in the selection of Steyn and de Vililers.

18:20 GMT: The formalities involving the five Cricket Hall of Fame inductees comes and goes. Pakistan legend Wasim Akram, who really does know how to ramble on, accepts his part in the induction. The other four are nowhere to be seen.

18:05 GMT: The 2009 ODI XI is: Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle, Kevin Pietersen, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Yuvraj Singh, Martin Guptill, Mahendra Dhoni (captain), Andrew Flintoff, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ajantha Mendis, Umar Gul.

18:05 GMT: The ODI Team of the Year is about to be announced and this is sure to be a cracking XI.

18:05 GMT: It's time to the officials a fat pat on the back, and an award. Australia's Simon Taufel has won the Umpire of the Year award four times. Can he make it five? He can't. It goes to Pakistan's Aleem Dar, who brushes off Tony Hill, Taufel and Asad Rauf's collective challenge. He is extremely humble in his thanks and is grateful to his wife, who has to be without him for six or seven months of the year.

17:50 GMT: Ladies and gentlemen, the dinner interval is done with and it's time for some more on stage entertainment. Some or other violin-toting, all-women outfit from Cape Town string together a vibrant sound an garner a deserved round of applause. Fetching music, fetching lasses.

17:42 GMT: Call me overindulgent if you must, but I am now in the middle of a piece of blueberry cheesecake. More questionable metaphor - the slice of cake is as average as Nathan Hauritz.

17:35 GMT: I've just wolfed down some lovely chicken and a mound of creamed spinach my beloved mother would be proud of. Excuse the weak metaphor, but the spinach was as good as seeing Australia lose the Ashes this year. Before that though I paid a visit to the men's room, where my urinal neighbour was an Indian writer, who insisted Gambhir was going to walk away with the Test Player of the Year Later. I have fancy sensational Strauss is going to walk away with the gong. Time will tell.

17:10 GMT: Time for more food, then. Shastri dashes off the stage after Dilshan's speech and a bunch of waitrons take to the floor. The avocado and lettuce is a thing of the past. Next up: meat and three vegetables.

17:07 GMT: Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan - who sports a beard that has been fashioned with the utmost of precision - fetches the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year award. His 96 not out off 57 balls against the West Indies in the semi-final of the World Twenty20 at The Oval on 19 June was truly sublime.

17:03 GMT: Holland's Ryan ten Doeschate won this one last year and this time around Canada's Rizwan Cheema, ten Doeschate, Ireland's William Porterfield and the Netherland's Edgar Schiferli are up for the gong. The Irishman bags it and, amidst a heavy accent that most of the audience are left to strain their ears at.

16:59 GMT: Siddle is subjected to a gaggle of photographers, who jostle for position and insist: 'Peter, Peter, hold your trophy up high!'

16:55 GMT: ICC head honcho Haroon Lorgat announces that New Zealand have won the Spirit of Cricket award. Nominees Australia, England and Sri Lanka have lost out. Captain Vettori accepts the accolade and is characteristically humble in his acceptance speech.

16:53 GMT: On with the show, as the Emerging Player of the Year award gets ready to be snapped up. Sri Lanka's Ajantha Mendis won it last year. This year it goes to Peter Siddle, who beats off team-mate Hilfenhaus, England's Onions and New Zealand's Jesse Ryder. He seems pretty elated, albeit nervous, and walks off the stage in triumph.

16:48 GMT: We've all just enjoyed a lovely tap dance from the first piece of entertainment for the showpiece. Former India captain Ravi Shastri is the event's host and he's now on stage delivering all the pleasantries.

16:40 GMT: For your perusal - how the awards will pan out one after the other: Emerging Player of the Year, Spirit of Cricket Award, Associate Player of the Year, T20 International Performance of the Year. After a dinner break, proceedings will bring up the bigger fries - Test Player of the Year, etc.

16:34 GMT: Cricket dignitaries vast and varied are currently enjoying their first course of five, probably. From a distance it looks like a lettuce-laden avocado dish of sorts. Not everybody's cup of tea, but Kiwi captain Daniel Vettori is lapping it up. Unlike Onions and Hilfenhaus, he at least has fashioned a stylish beard. Rahul Dravid looks perplexed at the plate set in front of him.

16:30 GMT: I'm back from the wrestle for finger sandwiches. I almost lost a finger as one journo went in the for the egg mayonnaise on white but thankfully I made it out with all 10 digits in place. I'm happy to yabber on to myself but I'd love to see who you are backing for awards and why. Mail me at jonhenry.wilson@teamtalkmedia.co.za or post your say on here.

16:21 GMT: For the record, the journalists are holed up in some side room. There are plenty of trimmings on offer, but it's certainly not the same as rubbing shoulders with Yuvraj and company. This job isn't all glamour, you know.

16:20 GMT: Indian star Yuvraj Singh has just arrived. He looks like he has just stepped off a very long flight and hasn't even bothered to tuck in his shirt or straighten his tie. His broken finger is along for the ride too.

16:14 GMT: There are some beautiful women hanging about. A large majority of them don't seem to have any partners. Perhaps Lily Allen will duck in a bit later and take up a seat alongside bearded Onions.

16:07 GMT: Security is tight. Nobody gets by without a thorough frisk, not even former Windies captain Jimmy Adams. Shame.

16:05 GMT: South African legend Graeme Pollock has been roped into an onscreen interview and quickly makes it known that he has been saddened by the poor turn out at Champions Trophy matches. There are no Proteas around for Pollock to back. They've all been snubbed in the nominee ranks, of course.

16:00 GMT: The who's who of the cricketing world are rocking up by the droves. Emerging player of the year nominees Ben Hilfenhaus and Graham Onions have failed to shave, while Test Player and Cricketer of the Year nominee Gautam Gambhir is looking very dapper.