Matthew Hayden is the hot favourite to win the Allan Border Medal forAustralian cricketer of the year tonight.Hayden is a certainty to be named the Test Player of the Year at thegala awards ceremony in Melbourne and is also expected to take theoverall Border Medal, based on his one-day international contributionsin India.During the voting period, which runs from the start of the Indian tourto the recently completed one-day series, Hayden scored 1,509 Test runsat an average of 71.85 to be far and away the best batsman of the past12 months.The one-day award has been thrown open by Glenn McGrath being ruledineligible because of his one-match suspension for dissent during therecent tri-series.Contenders include Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, match-winner MichaelBevan and this summer’s leading run-getter Ricky Ponting.Other awards on offer are the young player of the year, which shouldfall to Tasmania’s Shane Watson.Darren Lehmann looks set to win his third straight state player of theyear award.The awards are decided by votes cast by players, media and umpires andare weighted to make one-day and Test performances count equally indeciding the Border Medal winner.