By Scott Dougal, PA International

An impressive combination of individual strength and teamwork brought Australia Commonwealth gold and silver in the women's points race at the Manchester velodrome.

Sydney's Katherine Bates claimed the top spot on the podium in convincing fashion bettering compatriot Rochelle Gilmore by 14 points.

Canadian Olympian speedskater Clara Hughes rode aggressively but could not contend with the combined force of Bates, Gilmore and Alison Wright - the oldest at 22 - as she added to her gold from Saturday's road time-trial with a bronze.

Bates more than earned her glory by winning four of the 10 intermediate sprints but the Oceania champion paid tribute to her team-mates - including Wright whose efforts saw her pushed back to fourth by Hughes.

"To get first, second and fourth is fantastic," she said.

"Us three girls have been talking about this Commonwealth race for a long time.

"Team-work was definitely the key for us tonight."

No-one in the packed velodrome was more impressed than Hughes, who has won Olympic bronze both as a skater and as a cyclist, and only missed out on the silver by three points.

"The Australian girls were awesome," she said.

"They had a strong group out there and they rode as a unit."

With better support than that offered by her only other compatriot on the track, Erin Carter, Hughes might have done better but the Winnipeg rider refused to look for excuses.

"These races are won on guts," she said. "Every attack I felt like my head was going to explode."

Wales's Nicole Cooke was the best-placed Briton in sixth but the multiple junior world champion rarely looked like challenging for a medal place.

Indeed, Frances Newstead of England had looked a better bet going into the last 15 laps of the 50 circuit race but like Hughes she did not have the same strength around her that Bates had and she faded badly in the closing stages, finishing seventh overall.

The Australian trio established their control on the race in the early laps - sharing three of the first four sprint point places between them.

But a four-rider break including Hughes, Bates, Newstead and Cooke then made the running to claim 10 extra points for overtaking the bunch.

However, Bates, abetted by her cohorts, dominated the sprints thereafter to build what was to prove an unsurpassable lead.