RUGBY hero Jonny Wilkinson is the red-hot favourite to become the 50th winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award tomorrow night.

The England and Newcastle Flacons fly-half is odds-on to add the honour to his World Cup medal and the MBE he collected from the Queen this week.

At 1/10, Jonny is way ahead of the rest of the field, which includes athlete Paula Radcliffe, England's World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson, England football skipper David Beckham, tennis player Tim Henman and cricketer Andrew Flintoff

While Johnson would be the professional's choice for the single-minded way he has led Clive Woodward's all-conquering team to the Grand Slam, summer victories over New Zealand and Australia in their own countries and the World Cup, Wilkinson is England's number one sporting hero.

No matter how many times he claims "I couldn't have done it without the rest of the team," the enduring memory of his drop goal in the final minute of extra time which gave England their 20-17 victory in Sydney is likely to be reflected in the voting.

The BBC is now ready to show his magical drop goal following tough negotiations with the International Rugby Board, who climbed down after initially asking £6,500 for a single minute of action and agreed to what the Beeb described as "a fair deal".

But for Wilkinson, Paula Radcliffe (7/2) could well have become the first person to win the BBC award two years in a row. Last year, Radcliffe was the overwhelming choice after her European 10,000 metres, Commonwealth 5,000 metres and marathon world record-breaking triumphs.

This year she has gone even faster, setting new records for the marathon, 10,000 and 5,000 distances.

Captain fantastic Johnson is quoted at 10/1, Beckham is 20/1, Henman is 25/1 and you can get 66/1 on all-rounder Flintoff.

But expect a stewards' inquiry if anyone other than Wilkinson walks away with the trophy.

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