Ben Stokes Named As Wisden's Leading Cricketer In The World For Second Consecutive Year
Published - 15 Apr 2021, 06:35 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:44 AM
In the 2021 edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, published on April 15, superstar England all-rounder, Ben Stokes has been named as the Leading Cricketer in the world for a second straight year.
In a curtailed 2020, due to the pandemic, Ben Stokes was the leading Test run-scorer with 641 Test runs in 7 Tests at 58.27 in addition to his 19 wickets at a brilliant average of 18.73.
He was also named as the Leading Cricketer in the World in the previous edition for his thunderous, career-elevating 2019 where he helped England win its maiden World Cup, at home, and for his heroics in the Ashes.
Ben Stokes has done well for England:
Ben Stokes became the first English player since Andrew Flintoff in 2005 to be considered the best contemporary player in the world. He ended the 3-year run of India captain Virat Kohli.
Wisden’s editor, Lawrence Booth, was in all praise of the Christchurch-born all-rounder for performing exceptionally well for England in spite of suffering personally.
“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. He did it all against a backdrop of personal tragedy: his father, Ged, died in December at the age of 65,” Booth said.
Stoke recently has been ruled out of the IPL 2021 due to a finger injury he sustained during the first match against Punjab Kings.
Other Award Winners by Wisden:
Australia’s Beth Mooney was named the Leading Woman Cricketer in the World for 2020. Mooney was the Player of the Tournament of the T20 World Cup, and the leading run-scorer in the WBBL.
Kieron Pollard, West Indies’ white-ball captain, is named the Leading T20 cricketer in the world. The right-hander hit 59 sixes in T20s last year, one every 5.5 balls at a strike rate of 199.07 and an average of 53.58. He won the CPL with Trinbago Knight Riders and the IPL with Mumbai Indians.
The organization named the Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year: Darren Stevens, Zak Crawley, Dom Sibley, Jason Holder, and Mohammad Rizwan.
Wisden also marked 50 years of ODIs by naming its greatest player for each decade: Viv Richards (1970s), Kapil Dev (1980s), Sachin Tendulkar (1990s), Muttiah Muralitharan (2000s) and Virat Kohli (2010s).
