MELBOURNE (AP):

BRETT LEE returned from an ankle injury that kept him out of the World Cup to claim 70 wickets in the voting period and win Australia's top individual cricket award.

Lee, consistently cricket's fastest bowler, took 40 wickets at an average of 20.58 in six Test matches to win the Test player of the year award and edged opener Matt Hayden for the Allan Border award, the top individual honour.

"I look back when I was nine years of age ... my aim was to be the world's fastest bowler and play for Australia," Lee said. "So everything that I did from the age of nine was to always try and get into the Australian cricket team."

Lee got 125 votes for the Allan Border medal, followed by Hayden with 107 and skipper Ricky Ponting with 64. Ponting had won the award the previous two years running.

Hayden, 36, won the Australian limited-overs player of the year award to go with his international one-day player of the year trophy.