I'm no chance for AB Medal, says Warne

MELBOURNE, Jan 27 AAP - Shane Warne has ruled himself out of contention for the Allan Border Medal, rating Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist the front-runners for Australian cricket's highest individual honour.

The Allan Border Medal, awarded to Australia's best cricketer of the past 12 months in Tests and one-day internationals, will be presented tomorrow night in Melbourne.

Warne is expected to be right in the frame for the award thanks to his Test match efforts in the past 12 months.

He has taken 61 wickets in nine Tests at a miserly 18.54.

But the master leg-spinner doesn't think he'll poll in the top three.

"Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Matty Hayden - it'll be one of those guys I presume who'll win the Allan Border Medal," Warne said.

"I might get a few votes in the Test matches.

"But I think ultimately it will be one of those three guys that will win the medal."

Helping Warne's cause is the fact that under the 3-2-1 voting system by players, umpires and media, Test votes are weighted to reflect the fact fewer Tests are played than one-day internationals.

But Hayden remains raging favourite to win back-to-back medals after another stellar year with the bat in both forms of the game.

The Queenslander has notched up six Test centuries, but his 1051 runs at an average of 61.82 is lower than Ponting's Test return of 1068 runs at 66.75.

Hayden also has 1149 runs in one-day internationals this year at 63.83 to back his claims, higher than Ponting's 780 runs at 41.05.

Hayden also claimed the mantle of world's best batsman in Test and one-day cricket, moving to the top of the PriceWaterhouse Coopers rankings for limited overs internationals.

He joins Viv Richards, Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar as the only players ever to have held both world No 1 rankings at the same time.

Previous winners of the Allan Border Medal are Glenn McGrath (2000), Steve Waugh (2001) and Hayden last year.

The Allan Border Medal function will also feature awards for Test player of the year, one-day player of the year and the young cricketer of the year.

The young cricketer award is certain to be won by rising New South Welshman Michael Clarke, who impressed in his one-day international debut in Adelaide a fortnight ago.