South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis is again in line for four prestigious awards, including Cricketer of the Year, when the 2005 Mutual & Federal SA (South Africa) Cricket Awards take place here Wednesday evening.

Kallis was the big winner last year, collecting four awards, including the prestigious Mutual & Federal SA Cricketer of the Year award. He is once again nominated in four categories, including the premier one.

Bu this time round, veteran Kallis faces stiffer competition from relative newcomers Makhaya Ntini, captain Graeme Smith, and 20-year-old A.B. de Villiers, who have been nominated for three awards each.

Apart from Kallis, the other nominees for the Mutual & Federal SA Cricketer of the year Award are Ntini, Smith, de Villiers and Shaun Pollock.

The South African squad will go to the honours evening buoyed by their whitewash of the West Indies during their tour of the Caribbean islands.

While they were there, a century from Kallis in Antigua was enough to return him to the top of the LG ICC Test Rankings ahead of Brian Lara.

De Villiers has made spectacular progress in the last year. He was the first recipient of the Coca-Cola Under 19 Player of the Year Award a year ago, and now he is a multiple nominee in the professional awards categories.

Kallis, Ntini and Smith are the finalists for the Castle Lager/MTN Test Cricketer of the Year Award: Kallis scored 1,497 runs, Ntini took 58 wickets and Smith made 1,270 runs.

Kallis, de Villiers and Smith's popularity is evident in their nomination for the SuperSport Fans' Cricketer of the Year.

There are 30 awards covering both amateur and professional playing and administration of cricket that will be handed out at the gala banquet.

--Indo-Asian News Service