Wisden Cricketers of the Year

A gathering of Wisden Cricketers of the Year at the 2005 Wisden dinner. Left to right, Ashley Giles (2005), Andrew Strauss (2005), M.J.K. Smith (1960), Donald Carr (1960), Tom Graveney (1953), Rob Key (2005) and Steve Harmison (2005).

Excellence in the previous English summer is the major criterion for inclusion in the Five, but not the only one. In fact, the award is a recognition of a player’s influence on the last English season, allowing Matthew Engel, editor of Wisden 1997, to select Sanath Jayasuriya, who had not played in England in the preceding year. However, his batting at the 1996 World Cup changed the shape of the one-day game for good.

Just as importantly, no one can be chosen more than once. Well, two exceptions prove that particular rule: after being named a Cricketer of the Year in 1904, Plum Warner was singled out for a special tribute in 1921, while Sir Jack Hobbs trod the same exceptional path – selection for the Five in 1909 and a solo tribute 17 years later, in 1926. Claire Taylor, in 2009, was the first woman to receive the accolade.

Since 1926, every Wisden bar eight wartime Almanacks and the 2011 edition* has named a set of five. And since 2004, these have been complemented by the selection of the Leading Cricketer in the World.

1889: George Lohmann, Johnny Briggs, John Ferris, Charles Turner, Sammy Woods, Bobby Peel

1890: Bobby Abel, Billy Barnes, Billy Gunn, Louis Hall, Robert Henderson, Maurice Read, Arthur Shrewsbury, Frank Sugg, Albert Ward

1891: Jack Blackham, Gregor MacGregor, Dick Pilling, Mordecai Sherwin, Henry Wood

1892: William Attewell, JT Hearne, Frederick Martin, Arthur Mold, John Sharpe

1893: Herbie Hewett, Lionel Palairet, Walter Read, Stanley Scott, Andrew Stoddart

1894: Georg Giffen, Alex Hearne, Stanley Jackson, Harry Trott, Ted Wainwright

1895: Bill Brockwell, Jack Brown, C. B. Fry, Tom Hayward, Archie MacLaren

1896: WG Grace

1897: Syd Gregory, Dick Lilley, Ranjitsinhji, Tom Richardson, Hugh Trumble

1898: Frederick Bull, Willis Cuttell, Frank Druce, Gilbert Jessop, Jack Mason

1899: Wilfred Rhodes, William Storer, Charlie Townsend, Albert Trott, William Lockwood

1900: Joe Darling, Clem Hill, Arthur Jones, Monty Noble, Robert Moore

1901: Tip Foster, Schofield Haigh, George Herbert Hirst, Tom Taylor, John Tunnicliffe

1902: Len Braund, Charlie McGahey, Frank Mitchell, Willie Quaife, Johnny Tyldesley

1903: Warwick Armstrong, Cuthbert Burnup, James Iremonger, Jim Kelly, Victor Trumper

1904: Colin Blythe, John Gunn, Albert Knight, Walter Mead, Plum Warner

1905: Bernard Bosanquet, Ernest Halliwell, James Hallows, Percy Perrin, Reggie Spooner

1906: David Denton, Walter Lees, George Thompson, Joe Vine, Levi Wright

1907: Jack Crawford, Arthur Fielder, Ernie Hayes, Kenneth Hutchings, Neville Knox

1908: Albert Hallam, Reggie Schwarz, Frank Tarrant, Bert Vogler, Thomas Wass

1909: Walter Brearley, Lord Hawkew, Jack Hobbs, Alan Marshal, John Newstead

1910: Warren Bardsley, Sydney Barnes, Douglas Carr, Arthur Day, Vernon Ransford

1911: Harry Foster, Alfred Hartley, Charlie Llewellyn, Razor Smith, Frank Woolley

1912: Frank Foster, J. W. Hearne, Sep Kinneir, Phil Mead, Herbert Strudwick

1913: There were no Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1913

1914: Major Booth, George Gunn, Bill Hitch, Albert Relf, Lionel Tennyson

1915: Johnny Douglas, Percy Fender, Wally Hardinge, Donald Knight, Sydney Smith

1916-17: There were no Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1916 and 1917

1918: Harry Calder, John Firth, Clement Gibson, Gerard Rotherham, Greville Stevens

1919: Percy Adams, Percy Chapman, Adrian Gore, Lionel Hedges, Norman Partridge

1920: Andy Ducat, Patsy Hendren, Percy Holmes, Herbert Sutcliffe, Ernest Tyldesley

1921: Pelham Warner

1922: Hubert Ashton, Jack Bryan, Jack Gregory, Charlie Macartney, Ted McDonald

1923: Arthur Carr, Tich Freeman, Charlie Parker, Jack Russell, Andy Sandham

1924: Arthur Gilligan, Roy Kilner, George Macaulay, Cec Parkin, Maurice Tate

1925: Bob Catterall, Jack MacBryan, Herbie Taylor, Dick Tyldesley, William Whysall

1926: Jack Hobbs

2002: Andy Flower, Adam Gilchrist, Jason Gillespie, VVS Laxman, Damien Martyn

2003: Matthew Hayden, Adam Hollioake, Nasser Hussain, Shaun Pollock, Michael Vaughan

2004: Chris Adams, Andrew Flintoff, Ian Harvey, Gary Kirsten, Graeme Smith

2005: Ashley Giles, Steve Harmison, Rob Key, Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick

2006: Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones, Brett Lee, Kevin Pietersen, Ricky Ponting

2007: Paul Collingwood, Mahela Jayawardene, Mohammed Yousuf, Monty Panesar, Mark Ramprakash

2008: Ian Bell, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ottis Gibson, Zaheer Khan, Ryan Sidebottom

2009: James Anderson, Dale Benkenstein, Mark Boucher, Neil McKenzie, Claire Taylor

2010: Stuart Broad, Michael Clarke, Graham Onions, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann

2011: Tamim Iqbal, Eoin Morgan, Chris Read, Jonathan Trott

2012: Tim Bresnan, Alastair Cook, Glen Chapple, Alan Richardson, Kumar Sangakkara

2013: Nick Compton, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn, Marlon Samuels

2014: Shikhar Dhawan, Charlotte Edwards, Ryan Harris, Chris Rogers, Joe Root

2015: Moeen Ali, Gary Ballance, Adam Lyth, Angelo Mathews, Jeetan Patel

2016: Jonny Bairstow, Brendon McCullum, Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, Kane Williamson

2017: Ben Duckett, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Toby Roland-Jones, Chris Woakes

2018: Shai Hope, Heather Knight, Jamie Porter, Nat Sciver, Anya Shrubsole

2019: Tammy Beaumont, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Virat Kohli

2020: Jofra Archer, Pat Cummins, Simon Harmer, Marnus Labuschagne, Ellyse Perry

2021: Zak Crawley, Dom Sibley, Mohammad Rizwan, Jason Holder, Darren Stevens

*There were only four Wisden Cricketers of the Year named in 2011

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