One of the oldest honours in the history of the sport, the announcement of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year in the Wisden Almanack always generates a similar set of questions.
The five for 2026 are Haseeb Hameed, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant and Mohammed Siraj, marking the first occasion in over 30 years that a single touring team has provided four of the five. Still, questions over why some of 2026's star performers abounded. Where is Joe Root, who made three hundreds in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy? Or what about Mitchell Starc and Deepti Sharma, the Leading Cricketers in the World, but not among the five Cricketers of the Year? There is an explanation for all omissions. But first, a history lesson.
When did the Wisden Cricketers of the Year award originate?
The first edition of the Wisden Almanack was released in 1864, but the Cricketers of the Year didn't start to be named until much later. First, in 1889, the Wisden Almanack named the “Six Great Bowlers of the Year”, and followed that with the “Nine Great Batsmen of the Year” in 1890 and “Six Great Wicket-Keepers of the Year” in 1891. From 1892, they have named five cricketers (almost) every year irrespective of their primary skill.
'Almost' every year?
There have been exceptions. In 1896, WG Grace was the only Cricketer of the Year. The honour was replicated for John Wisden in 1913, Pelham “Plum” Warner in 1921, and Jack Hobbs in 1926.
Additionally, there were no honours in the World War years of 1916, 1917, and 1941 to 46. With no first-class cricket, schoolboy cricketers were honoured in 1918 and 1919. And in 2011, there were only four Cricketers of the Year, with a space left conspicuously absent by one of Mohammad Asif or Mohammad Amir, who had lit up the previous summer before being jailed for their parts in the spot-fixing scandal.
What are the criterion for selecting the Cricketers of the Year?
There are three rules. One, the Five are chosen by the editor of the Wisden Almanack. Two, the selection is based primarily on excellence in and/or influence on the previous English season. And three, no one can be honoured more than once, apart from those early exceptions.
Wait, didn’t Jayasuriya...?
Sanath Jayasuriya was indeed a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1997 without playing in England in 1996. However, Matthew Engel, the Wisden Almanack editor, still selected Jayasuriya after his batting at the 1996 World Cup changed the shape of the one-day game for good.
Early in the 21st century, there were several instances of cricketers being honoured despite not playing in England the summer before. Since 2003, the Almanack reverted to the original criterion, while introducing separate awards for the Leading Cricketer in the World.
What about Warner and Hobbs?
Warner (in 1904) and Hobbs (in 1909) had indeed been among the Five before the Wisden Almanack replaced the Five Cricketers with features on Warner (in 1921) and Hobbs (in 1926). However, these were special portraits, and neither Warner nor Hobbs was a Wisden Cricketer for a second time.
Why is no one named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year more than once?
We asked Chris Lane, former managing director and currently consultant publisher of the Wisden Almanack, with whom he has been for 38 years. “The Almanack started cricketers of the year in the 1889 edition,” explains Lane. “Although not officially stated at the time, it quickly became apparent that players would only be chosen once. The reason was that cricketers of the year was a ‘peg’ to run essays and photos (rare in books in those days) of famous players.
“It would have been very dull for the book to have a photo and essay on the same player in a subsequent edition (for example, WG Grace every year!), so that is why the 'once only' rule would have been adopted. In practice, it has created a sort of hall of fame.”
Do you have a full list?
Say no more!
1889: George Lohmann, Johnny Briggs, John Ferris, Charles Turner, Sammy Woods, Bobby Peel
1890: Bobby Abel, Billy Barnes, Billy Gunn, Louis Hall, Robert Henderson, Maurice Read, Arthur Shrewsbury, Frank Sugg, Albert Ward
1891: Jack Blackham, Gregor MacGregor, Dick Pilling, Mordecai Sherwin, Henry Wood
1892: William Attewell, JT Hearne, Frederick Martin, Arthur Mold, John Sharpe
1893: Herbie Hewett, Lionel Palairet, Walter Read, Stanley Scott, Andrew Stoddart
1894: Georg Giffen, Alex Hearne, Stanley Jackson, Harry Trott, Ted Wainwright
1895: Bill Brockwell, Jack Brown, CB Fry, Tom Hayward, Archie MacLaren
1896: WG Grace
1897: Syd Gregory, Dick Lilley, KS Ranjitsinhji, Tom Richardson, Hugh Trumble
1898: Frederick Bull, Willis Cuttell, Frank Druce, Gilbert Jessop, Jack Mason
1899: Wilfred Rhodes, William Storer, Charlie Townsend, Albert Trott, William Lockwood
1900: Joe Darling, Clem Hill, Arthur Jones, Monty Noble, Robert Moore
1901: Tip Foster, Schofield Haigh, George Herbert Hirst, Tom Taylor, John Tunnicliffe
1902: Len Braund, Charlie McGahey, Frank Mitchell, Willie Quaife, Johnny Tyldesley
1903: Warwick Armstrong, Cuthbert Burnup, James Iremonger, Jim Kelly, Victor Trumper
1904: Colin Blythe, John Gunn, Albert Knight, Walter Mead, Plum Warner
1905: Bernard Bosanquet, Ernest Halliwell, James Hallows, Percy Perrin, Reggie Spooner
1906: David Denton, Walter Lees, George Thompson, Joe Vine, Levi Wright
1907: Jack Crawford, Arthur Fielder, Ernie Hayes, Kenneth Hutchings, Neville Knox
1908: Albert Hallam, Reggie Schwarz, Frank Tarrant, Bert Vogler, Thomas Wass
1909: Walter Brearley, Lord Hawke, Jack Hobbs, Alan Marshal, John Newstead
1910: Warren Bardsley, Sydney Barnes, Douglas Carr, Arthur Day, Vernon Ransford
1911: Harry Foster, Alfred Hartley, Charlie Llewellyn, Razor Smith, Frank Woolley
1912: Frank Foster, JW Hearne, Sep Kinneir, Phil Mead, Herbert Strudwick
1913: John Wisden (special portrait)
1914: Major Booth, George Gunn, Bill Hitch, Albert Relf, Lionel Tennyson
1915: Johnny Douglas, Percy Fender, Wally Hardinge, Donald Knight, Sydney Smith
1916-17: No Wisden Cricketer of the Year
1918: Harry Calder, John Firth, Clement Gibson, Gerard Rotherham, Greville Stevens
1919: Percy Adams, Percy Chapman, Adrian Gore, Lionel Hedges, Norman Partridge
1920: Andy Ducat, Patsy Hendren, Percy Holmes, Herbert Sutcliffe, Ernest Tyldesley
1921: Pelham Warner (special portrait)
1922: Hubert Ashton, Jack Bryan, Jack Gregory, Charlie Macartney, Ted McDonald
1923: Arthur Carr, Tich Freeman, Charlie Parker, Jack Russell, Andy Sandham
1924: Arthur Gilligan, Roy Kilner, George Macaulay, Cec Parkin, Maurice Tate
1925: Bob Catterall, Jack MacBryan, Herbie Taylor, Dick Tyldesley, William Whysall
1926: Jack Hobbs (special portrait)
1927: George Geary, Harold Larwood, Jack Mercer, Bert Oldfield, Bill Woodfull
1928: Roger Blunt, Charlie Hallows, Wally Hammond, Douglas Jardine, Vallance Jupp
1929: Les Ames, George Duckworth, Maurice Leyland, Sam Staples, Jack White
1930: Ted Bowley, Duleepsinhji, Tuppy Owen-Smith, Walter Robins, Bob Wyatt
1931: Donald Bradman, Clarrie Grimmett, Beverley Lyon, Ian Peebles, Maurice Turnbull
1932: Bill Bowes, Stewie Dempster, James Langridge, Nawab of Pataudi Sr, Hedley Verity
1933: Ewart Astill, Freddie Brown, Alec Kennedy, CK Nayudu, Bill Voce
1934: Fred Bakewell, George Headley, Stan Nichols, Leslie Townsend, Cyril Walters
1935: Stan McCabe, Bill O’Reilly, George Paine, Bill Ponsford, Jim Smith
1936: Jock Cameron, Errol Holmes, Bruce Mitchell, Denis Smith, Arthur Wellard
1937: Charlie Barnett, Bill Copson, Alf Gover, Vijay Merchant, Stan Worthington
1938: Tom Goddard, Joe Hardstaff jr, Len Hutton, Jim Parks sr, Eddie Paynter
1939: Hugh Bartlett, Bill Brown, Denis Compton, Kenneth Farnes, Arthur Wood
1940: Learie Constantine, Bill Edrich, Walter Keeton, Brian Sellers, Doug Wright
1941-1946: No Wisden Cricketer of the Year
1947: Alec Bedser, Laurie Fishlock, Vinoo Mankad, Peter Smith, Cyril Washbrook
1948: Martin Donnelly, Alan Melville, Dudley Nourse, Jack Robertson, Norman Yardley
1949: Lindsay Hassett, Bill Johnston, Ray Lindwall, Arthur Morris, Don Tallon
1950: Trevor Bailey, Roy Jenkins, John Langridge, Reg Simpson, Bert Sutcliffe
1951: Godfrey Evans, Sonny Ramadhin, Alf Valentine, Everton Weekes, Frank Worrell
1952: Bob Appleyard, Tom Dollery, Jim Laker, Peter May, Eric Rowan
1953: Harold Gimblett, Tom Graveney, David Sheppard, Stuart Surridge, Fred Trueman
1954: Neil Harvey, Tony Lock, Keith Miller, Johnny Wardle, Willie Watson
1955: Bruce Dooland, Fazal Mahmood, Eric Hollies, Brian Statham, George Tribe
1956: Colin Cowdrey, Doug Insole, Jackie McGlew, Hugh Tayfield, Frank Tyson
1957: Dennis Brookes, Jim Burke, Malcolm Hilton, Gil Langley, Peter Richardson
1958: Peter Loader, Arthur McIntyre, Collie Smith, Micky Stewart, Clyde Walcott
1959: Les Jackson, Roy Marshall, Arthur Milton, John Reid, Derek Shackleton
1960: Ken Barrington, Donald Carr, Ray Illingworth, Geoff Pullar, MJK Smith
1961: Neil Adcock, Ted Dexter, Roy McLean, Raman Subba Row, Vic Wilson
1962: Bill Alley, Richie Benaud, Alan Davidson, Bill Lawry, Norm O’Neill
1963: Don Kenyon, Mushtaq Mohammad, Peter Parfitt, Phil Sharpe, Fred Titmus
1964: Brian Close, Charlie Griffith, Conrad Hunte, Rohan Kanhai, Garfield Sobers
1965: Geoffrey Boycott, Peter Burge, Jack Flavell, Graham McKenzie, Bob Simpson
1966: Colin Bland, John Edrich, Dick Motz, Peter Pollock, Graeme Pollock
1967: Bob Barber, Basil D’Oliveira, Colin Milburn, John Murray, Seymour Nurse
1968: Asif Iqbal, Hanif Mohammad, Ken Higgs, Jim Parks Jr, Nawab of Pataudi Jr
1969: Jimmy Binks, David Green, Barry Richards, Derek Underwood, Ossie Wheatley
1970: Basil Butcher, Alan Knott, Majid Khan, Mike Proctor, Don Shepherd
1971: Jack Bond, Clive Lloyd, Brian Luckhurst, Glenn Turner, Roy Virgin
1972: Geoff Arnold, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Lance Gibbs, Brian Taylor, Zaheer Abbas
1973: Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee, Bob Massie, John Snow, Keith Stackpole
1974: Keith Boyce, Bevan Congdon, Keith Fletcher, Roy Fredericks, Peter Sainsbury
1975: Dennis Amiss, Mike Denness, Norman Gifford, Tony Greig, Andy Roberts
1976: Ian Chappell, Peter Lee, Rick McCosker, David Steele, Bob Woolmer
1977: Mike Brearley, Gordon Greenidge, Michael Holding, Viv Richards, Bob Taylor
1978: Ian Botham, Mike Hendrick, Alan Jones, Ken McEwan, Bob Willis
1979: David Gower, John Lever, Chris Old, Clive Radley, John Shepherd
1980: Joel Garner, Sunil Gavaskar, Graham Gooch, Derek Randall, Brian Rose
1981: Kim Hughes, Robin Jackman, Allan Lamb, Clive Rice, Vintcent van der Bijl
1982: Terry Alderman, Allan Border, Richard Hadlee, Javed Miandad, Rod Marsh
1983: Imran Khan, Trevor Jesty, Alvin Kallicharran, Kapil Dev, Malcolm Marshall
1984: Mohinder Amarnath, Jeremy Coney, John Emburey, Mike Gatting, Chris Smith
1985: Martin Crowe, Larry Gomes, Geoff Humpage, Jack Simmons, Sidath Wettimuny
1986: Phil Bainbridge, Richard Ellison, Craig McDermott, Neal Radford, Tim Robinson
1987: John Childs, Graeme Hick, Dilip Vengsarkar, Courtney Walsh, James Whittaker
1988: Jonathan Agnew, Neil Foster, David Hughes, Peter Roebuck, Saleem Malik
1989: Kim Barnett, Jeff Dujon, Phil Neale, Franklyn Stephenson, Steve Waugh
1990: Jimmy Cook, Dean Jones, Jack Russell, Robin Smith, Mark Taylor
1991: Mike Atherton, Mohammad Azharuddin, Alan Butcher, Desmond Haynes, Mark Waugh
1992: Curtly Ambrose, Phillip DeFreitas, Allan Donald, Richie Richardson, Waqar Younis
1993: Nigel Briers, Martyn Moxon, Ian Salisbury, Alec Stewart, Wasim Akram
1994: David Boon, Ian Healy, Merv Hughes, Shane Warne, Steve Watkin
1995: Brian Lara, Devon Malcolm, Tim Munton, Steve Rhodes, Kepler Wessels
1996: Dominic Cork, Aravinda de Silva, Angus Fraser, Anil Kumble, Dermot Reeve
1997: Sanath Jayasuriya, Mushtaq Ahmed, Saeed Anwar, Phil Simmons, Sachin Tendulkar
1998: Matthew Elliott, Stuart Law, Glenn McGrath, Matthew Maynard, Graham Thorpe
1999: Ian Austin, Darren Gough, Muttiah Muralidaran, Arjuna Ranatunga, Jonty Rhodes
2000: Chris Cairns, Rahul Dravid, Lance Klusener, Tom Moody, Saqlain Mushtaq
2001: Mark Alleyne, Martin Bicknell, Andrew Caddick, Justin Langer, Darren Lehmann
2002: Andy Flower, Adam Gilchrist, Jason Gillespie, VVS Laxman, Damien Martyn
2003: Matthew Hayden, Adam Hollioake, Nasser Hussain, Shaun Pollock, Michael Vaughan
2004: Chris Adams, Andrew Flintoff, Ian Harvey, Gary Kirsten, Graeme Smith
2005: Ashley Giles, Steve Harmison, Rob Key, Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick
2006: Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones, Brett Lee, Kevin Pietersen, Ricky Ponting
2007: Paul Collingwood, Mahela Jayawardene, Mohammed Yousuf, Monty Panesar, Mark Ramprakash
2008: Ian Bell, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ottis Gibson, Zaheer Khan, Ryan Sidebottom
2009: James Anderson, Dale Benkenstein, Mark Boucher, Neil McKenzie, Claire Taylor
2010: Stuart Broad, Michael Clarke, Graham Onions, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann
2011: Tamim Iqbal, Eoin Morgan, Chris Read, Jonathan Trott
2012: Tim Bresnan, Alastair Cook, Glen Chapple, Alan Richardson, Kumar Sangakkara
2013: Nick Compton, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn, Marlon Samuels
2014: Shikhar Dhawan, Charlotte Edwards, Ryan Harris, Chris Rogers, Joe Root
2015: Moeen Ali, Gary Ballance, Adam Lyth, Angelo Mathews, Jeetan Patel
2016: Jonny Bairstow, Brendon McCullum, Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, Kane Williamson
2017: Ben Duckett, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Toby Roland-Jones, Chris Woakes
2018: Shai Hope, Heather Knight, Jamie Porter, Nat Sciver, Anya Shrubsole
2019: Tammy Beaumont, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Virat Kohli
2020: Jofra Archer, Pat Cummins, Simon Harmer, Marnus Labuschagne, Ellyse Perry
2021: Zak Crawley, Dom Sibley, Mohammad Rizwan, Jason Holder, Darren Stevens
2022: Jasprit Bumrah, Devon Conway, Ollie Robinson, Rohit Sharma, Dane van Niekerk
2023: Tom Blundell, Ben Foakes, Harmanpreet Kaur, Daryl Mitchell, Matthew Potts
2024: Harry Brook, Ash Gardner, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Starc, Mark Wood
2025: Gus Atkinson, Liam Dawson, Sophie Ecclestone, Jamie Smith, Dan Worrall
2026: Shubman Gill, Haseeb Hameed, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Siraj
