Ben Stokes has been named as the Wisden’s leading cricketer in the world for second consecutive year.
Stokes scored 641 Test runs at an average of 58.27 for the calendar year, which is the highest while he also took 19 wickets with an average of 18.73 runs.
This is his second consecutive Wisdon feature, before this he was also featured in the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack last year. Stokes guided England to their maiden World Cup title win in 2019 and later produced was the hero for the English team in the 3rd Ashes Test match played at Headingley. Before Stokes, this record was held by Indian captain Virat Kohli, who won the title for three consecutive time.
Stokes is only the second English cricketer to achieve this feat after Andrew Flintoff.
“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.”
England batsmen Zak Crawley and Dom Sibley, Pakistan wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan and former West Indies captain Jason Holder join Stevens on the 2021 list.
“Darren Stevens is Wisden’s oldest Cricketer of the Year since Leicestershire’s Ewart Astill in 1933,” said Booth. “His 29 Bob Willis Trophy wickets for Kent at an average of 15 confirmed his status as one of the domestic game’s most unsung heroes.”