Former England captain Joe Root has been named the best Wisden cricketer in the world; Ollie Robinson, Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Devon Conway and Dane Van Niekerk named five Cricketers of the Year; South African Lizelle Lee is the new world’s leading female cricketer
Joe Root has been named the best Wisden cricketer in the world for 2021
Joe Root has been named as Wisden’s world’s leading cricketer just days after retiring as England Test captain, while Ollie Robinson caps off a turbulent 12 months by being named as one of the world’s top five cricketers. year according to the almanac.
Root resigned last week after five years as captain following a 17-game win streak, but his impeccable form with the bat in 2021, when he scored 1,708 runs at an average of 61, sees him take the world prize. In doing so, he succeeds his own potential successor to the national team, Ben Stokes, who took the honor in 2019 and 2020.
Root is the third Englishman to receive the accolade since it was launched in 2003, Andrew Flintoff being the first in 2005.
Robinson, meanwhile, joins a strong overseas contingent of Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Devon Conway and Dane Van Niekerk to win a prestigious once-in-a-career gong dating from 1889 and primarily acknowledging performances from the previous English summer.
Sussex closer Robinson enjoyed a striking start to his Test career, taking 28 wickets in his first four games against New Zealand and India, but his early success on the pitch remains tied to an indelible stain off the pitch.
A series of historic offensive and discriminatory tweets emerged on the day of his Lord’s debut, briefly casting his international future in doubt and initiating disciplinary proceedings that saw him earn a partially suspended eight-game ban and a £3,200 fine.
Wisden’s mentions are typically matters of celebration, marking the achievements of those who have stood out in the English summer, but Robinson’s is as much an extension of the apologies he has previously issued for past mistakes.
Reflecting on his lowest point, he tells Wisden, “I looked at myself and thought, ‘Do I still have those opinions? Am I still that person? Are there bits of those tweets that are still with me?
“I had doubts, that I was the worst human being in history.”
Having successfully persuaded both himself and England that this is not the case, the 28-year-old must now overcome the fitness issues that plagued him over the winter to turn his promising first year in international cricket into something more substantial. .
Indian duo Bumrah and Rohit are worthy additions to the lineage after topping bowling and batting averages in last year’s tour of England, a series which ended a game early due to a Covid scare and will be topped off with a one-off test in July. .
New Zealand’s Conway scored 200 at Lord’s in his first Test innings and was part of the winning team for the Black Caps’ inaugural World Test Championship a fortnight later, while South African all-rounder Van Niekerk is renowned for
captaining the Invincibles of the Oval to glory in the first edition of the Women’s Hundred.
For Root, his promotion to the top men’s award, established in 2004, is a timely recognition of his incredible run-scoring feats. While his inability to pull the team out of its losing streak led him to resign last week, his own standards remained impeccable as his haul of 1,708 races placed him third on the all-time list during a calendar year.
Lizelle Lee is the new world leading female cricketer, the first South African to hold the title.
