Three women among Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year

In a historic first, three members of England’s victorious ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 team were among the five Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack 2018Cricketers of the Year, while Virat Kohli and Mithali Raj were named Leading Cricketer in the World for men and women respectively.

Heather Knight, Natalie Sciver and Anya Shrubsole, whose 6/46 headlined the England win over India by nine runs in that final at Lord’s and led to her becoming the first woman to be featured on the Wisdencover, were all in the list of Cricketers of the Year.

Lawrence Booth, the editor of the Almanack, praised Knight's contribution in England lifting the World Cup, saying, “When Heather Knight lifted the World Cup at Lord’s in late July, it was the culmination of a personal tour de force that helped change women’s cricket for ever.

“Not only had she captained England with aplomb throughout the tournament, but her 364 runs at an average of 45 – including a century against Pakistan – were central to their success.”

On Sciver and Shrubsole, Booth explained, “No stroke in 2017 was more memorable than Nat Sciver’s deliberate deflection between her legs, instantly christened the 'Natmeg'. But she was more than a one-trick pony. She hit 369 runs in the tournament at an average of 46 and a strike rate of 107, including hundreds against Pakistan and New Zealand, took three for three against West Indies, and scored a half-century in the final against India.

“The World Cup was slipping away from England when Anya Shrubsole embarked on a trophy-winning spell of five for 11. She finished with figures of six for 46, the best in a World Cup final, and the status of a national hero. That followed her winning hit in the semi-final against South Africa, which England won by two wickets in the last over.”

Shai Hope and Jamie Porter were the two others in the mix. Hope hit twin centuries to help the Windies beat England in a Test match at Headingley in August 2017, while Porter, a 24-year-old right-arm paceman, led Essex to their first County Championship win in 25 years.

Only two other women – Claire Taylor in 2009 and Charlotte Edwards in 2014 – have ever featured in the Wisdenlist, which has been an annual tradition in the game since 1889.

In a category introduced for the first time – Leading Twenty20 Cricketer in the World – Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, No.1 in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Rankings for bowlers, became the inaugural winner.

Kohli, meanwhile, became only the third player to be named Leading Cricketer in the World for a second time, after Virender Sehwag and Kumar Sangakkara. Kohli had pipped the competition to the post last year too. The selection of Raj, who led India to the World Cup final and also became the most prolific run-scorer in women’s cricket along the way, made it a grand double for India.

“In all formats in 2017, he scored 2,818 runs – more than 700 ahead of Joe Root in second place,” said Lawrence Booth, the editor of the Almanack, about Kohli. “Three of his five Test hundreds were doubles, and the other two unbeaten, and his 1,460 one-day international runs were unsurpassed.”

On Raj, Booth said, “Mithali Raj made it an Indian double after she was named the Leading Woman Cricketer in the World. In the course of captaining her country to within a whisker of the World Cup title, she became the leading run-scorer in the history of women's one-day internationals, and completed her seventh successive half-century, another record.”