English cricketer Ben Stokes has been named as the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for the second consecutive year in the 2021 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.
Stokes gathered a total of 641 Test runs at an average of an astounding 58.27 for the calendar year, which was more than any other cricketer. Meanwhile, he also captured 19 wickets at an average of 18.73 runs.
“Ben Stokes becomes the first England player to be named Wisden’s Leading Cricketer in the World more than once, retaining the title he claimed in 2020,” said Wisden’s editor, Lawrence Booth. “He did it all against a backdrop of personal tragedy: his father, Ged, died in December at the age of 65.”
In winning the award, Stokes became only the second England player to be awarded the honour, after Andrew Flintoff. And, he is the only third cricketer of any nationality, after Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli from India, to win it in successive years.
Australia’s Beth Mooney was named as the Leading Woman Cricketer in the World. This was after she had an amazing stint last year – she was player of the tournament at the T20 World Cup held in Australia. Her unbeaten 78 off 54 balls helped her team defeat runners-up India in front of an 86,000-plus crowd in the final at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. Apart from this remarkable performance, she was also the leading run-scorer in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), Australia’s women’s domestic Twenty20 cricket competition.
Meanwhile, one of the hardest hitters of the ball, Kieron Pollard from the West Indies was named as the Leading T20 Cricketer in the world.
Wisden also named the Five Cricketers of the Year: Darren Stevens, Zak Crawley, and Dom Sibley, from England, Jason Holder from West Indies, and Mohammad Rizwan from Pakistan.
Apart from these award, Wisden also commemorated 50 years of one-day international cricket by naming its greatest player for each decade: Viv Richards of West Indies (1970s), Kapil Dev of India (1980s), Sachin Tendulkar of India (1990s), Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka (2000s), and Virat Kohli of India (2010s).
Aren’t these truly deserving winners? What do you think? Let us know your views in the comments section below.
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