Ben Stokes Named As Wisden's Leading Cricketer In The World
Updated - 29 Apr 2020, 01:48 PM
England allrounder Ben Stokes has been named as the leading Cricketer in the World in the 2020 edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack. The prestigious award marks the end of a remarkable 2019 for Ben Stokes during which he helped England win the World Cup and draw the Ashes.
The allrounder produced a stunning all round performance throughout the World Cup, helping England win the trophy at home. He scored 465 runs with the help of five fifties including one in the final against New Zealand. The left-handed batsman guided England from a disastrous 86 for four to a tie at 241 with a score of 84 not out in the final before stepping to the crease again to score eight runs in the super over.
Ben Stokes also made an impact with the ball as he picked up seven wickets in the competition. He then proved his worth in Tests too by helping England draw the Ashes. In the third Ashes Test, he scored a stunning 135 as England registered a miraculous win by chasing down an improbable target of 356. 74 of those runs came for the final-wicket partnership with Jack Leach in which the spinner scored only one run.
Towards the end of the year, he was named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. The England allrounder became the first cricketer to win the prize since Andrew Flintoff in 2005. In January, he won the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy at the ICC Awards for being the World Player of the Year.
Ben Stokes succeeds India’s Virat Kohli, who had been honoured by Wisden for three years running, and becomes the first English player since Andrew Flintoff in 2005 to be considered the best contemporary player in the world.
“Ben Stokes pulled off the performance of a lifetime – twice in the space of a few weeks,” said Wisden’s editor, Lawrence Booth. “First, with a mixture of outrageous talent and good fortune, he rescued England’s run-chase in the World Cup final, before helping to hit 15 off the super over. Then, in the Third Ashes Test at Headingley, he produced one of the great innings, smashing an unbeaten 135 to pinch a one-wicket win.”
“Last year, these pages urged [Stokes] to rediscover his mongrel as a matter of national urgency,” Booth added in his Notes by the Editor. “He did, and more: in the World Cup final and the Headingley Test, he was playing fantasy cricket. In between came an Ashes hundred at Lord’s – normally a career highlight, scarcely a tremor on the Stokesograph.
“When England stumbled during the World Cup, losing to Sri Lanka and Australia, he stood tall. Without him, this Almanack might have been another English hard-luck story. Instead, it’s a celebration. Stokes is their all-weather cricketer, a giant come rain or shine. The next few years should be fun,” he added.
Australia’s allrounder Ellyse Perry was named as the leading woman player in the world. West Indies’ Andre Russell was named as the leading T20 player in the world.
