Gilchrist takes one-day award

For the second year running, Adam Gilchrist has been named as Australia's one-day player of the season at the Allan Border Medal awards in Melbourne.

In a closely-fought category, Gilchrist polled 28 votes to finish four ahead of Brett Lee and Ricky Ponting, and five ahead of Andrew Symonds. In the run-up to the awards, it had been widely anticipated that Ponting would sweep the board in all three major categories, but he remains a hot favourite to scoop the Test award, and the overall player of the year medal as well.

Gilchrist secured the award in the second-last game of Australia's season, the first final against India at the MCG on February 6. He has made 1463 runs in a period that began with the opening fixture of last year's World Cup, at a phenomenal strike rate of 105.63 and an average of 45.71. He has also scored two centuries, with a highest score of 172 against Zimbabwe in the recent VB Series, as well as 60 catches and a stumping.

Ponting, who played in 37 matches, made 1317 runs at 43.90, while Lee was Australia's top wicket-taker with 49 at an average of 19.87, but his absence from the recent tri-series in India scuppered his prospects of the award. Votes were awarded on a 3-2-1 basis by a panel of former cricketers and media representatives.

The evening also featured a tribute to David Hookes, who died last month, while the former Test players Alan Davidson and Hugh Trumble were officially induced into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.