Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year

by Allan D Fri 13 Apr 2012, 00:01

I am surprised nobody has yet posted a thread on this annual singular (or should it be plural?) honour. Despite a new editor the traditional pattern has been adhered to of 2 England cricketers and members of the victorious Ashes squad (which this edition of the cricketers' bible still covers I think) in Cook and Bresnan, only one tourist from a rather poor summer in Sangakkara, as much, one suspects, for his magisterial and brave Cowdrey lecture as for his exploits on the field and 2 representatives from the County Championship. The captain of the Champion County (its first outright victory for 77 years) might have been expected but a more recent tradition appears to have developed of at least one off-the-wall selection and I think Richardson falls into that category, not for his contribution to his county winning a trophy but to it avoiding the humiliation of relegation. Nonetheless I suspect Basil and other Pears fans on this forum will say that the award is richly-deserved and long overdue.