Wisden Picks Ben Stokes As ‘Cricketer Of 2019’

LONDON: England's Ben Stokes and Ellyse Perry of Australia were on Wednesday named the Leading Cricketers of 2019 by Wisden Almanack.

Stokes became the first English cricketer after Andrew Flintoff since 2005 to win the award whereas Perry, the star Australian all-rounder, had won the award previously in 2016 and has thus become the first woman to claim the award twice.

Across the 2019 calendar, Stokes hit 821 Test runs at 45, including an Ashes hundred at Lord's, and 719 in ODIs at almost 60.

Perry, on the other hand, raised the bar a notch higher, scoring a century (plus 76 not out) in her only Test, and two more (both unbeaten) in ODIs, where she averaged 73. From six T20 international innings, she was dismissed once, averaging 150. On top of that were 21 one-day wickets at 13 apiece, and six in T20s.

Meanwhile, hard-hitting West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell was named T20 Leading Cricketer of 2019. Last year, Russell took 46 wickets and scored 1,080 runs in T20 matches.

Along with Perry, Wisden named Pat Cummins, Marnus Labuschagne, Jofra Archer and Simon Harmer as the Five Cricketers of the Year.

The Wisden Five Cricketers of the Year in 2019 were Rory Burns, Tammy Beaumont, Jos Buttler, Virat Kohli, and Sam Curran. Kohli was also named the Leading Cricketer in the world the past three years, while India's Smriti Mandhana was the Leading Woman Cricketer in the World in 2018. The first two Leading T20 Cricketer in the world awards were claimed by Afghanistan's Rashid Khan. (IANS)

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