Pat Cummins has become the first Australian since 2012 to be named the best Wisden cricketer in the world.
Other Australians honored by the publication were Travis Head, for the year’s best test match performance, and Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Starc and Ashleigh Gardner, who were among the almanac’s five cricketers of the year.
Cummins led his country to success in both the World Test Championship and the 50-over World Cup. He succeeded Ben Stokes, who claimed the prestigious title three times in the last four years. The last Australian to receive the award was Michael Clarke.
Head won the Wisden Trophy for Test performance of the year for what editor Lawrence Booth described as “his pulsating 163 off just 174 balls”. [which] helped Australia take control of the World Test Championship final against India at The Oval.”
There was also a distinct Ashes flavor to the historic Cricketers of the Year panel, the coveted one-off award in the race dating back to 1889 and focusing on performances during the previous English summer.
Gardner was the only Women’s Ashes player chosen.
“Having been player of the tournament when Australia won the T20 World Cup in South Africa, Ashleigh Gardner enjoyed a central role in retaining the Ashes, helping them to victory in the Test match at Trent Bridge with 12 wickets for their breaks. – the second best analysis in the history of women’s events,” Booth wrote.
The editor added: “Usman Khawaja was a thorn in the side of the English bowlers throughout the Ashes, facing 1,263 balls and scoring 496 runs, in each case the highest tally of the series. Without his double of 141 and 65 at Edgbaston , where batted over the five days, Australia may not have retained the urn.”
“Mitchell Starc took more wickets in the Ashes (23) than anyone else, despite missing the opening game. His pair of three fors helped win the Second Test at Lord’s, and he bowled beautifully to take seven wickets at Headingley and eight at The Oval “.
In addition to the trio of Australians, England duo Mark Wood and Harry Brook were recognized.
The women’s award for best cricketer went to Nat Sciver-Brunt, the first Englishwoman to win an award previously dominated by Australians. West Indies’ Hayley Matthews has become the first woman to be named T20 Cricketer of the Year, an award open to both genders and now in her seventh year.
Booth also made a wry observation in the famous Editor’s Notes about how “Bazball” has overturned convention in the Ashes’ Anglo-Australian cricket relationship.
“Ashes cricket has traditionally been a study in national stereotypes: Australia bowl, England parry,” he wrote.
“But the roles were reversed last summer, and then some. As the two captains stood in the Oval sunshine at the end of a pulsating 2-2 draw, they personified the contrast: Pat Cummins’ matinee idol, clean-shaven, framed by his Baggy Green and white cricket trousers; and at his side, under a bucket hat, the bearded Ben Stokes, with tattooed biceps bulging in a blue vest that oozes rebellion, the Australian convention.”
AAP
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