Wisden names Stokes as world’s leading cricketer

England captain Ben Stokes has been named Wisden’s leading cricketer in the world for the third time in four years.

England team-mates Ben Foakes and Matthew Potts are named among the five Cricketers of the Year.

New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell plus India women’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur are also on the list.

England had won only one of their previous 17 Tests when all-rounder Stokes was appointed captain last April.

They have since won 10 of their past 12 matches by playing a daring style of swashbuckling cricket.

Stokes has previously been named the leading cricketer in the world in 2020 and 2021.

“It’s hard to think of any other cricketer who could have transformed his team’s fortunes so suddenly as Ben Stokes,” said Wisden editor Lawrence Booth.

“He was forceful with both bat and ball, scoring a series-turning century against South Africa in Manchester.

“Later in the year, he steered England to the T20 World Cup with the defining innings of the final against Pakistan in Melbourne – the icing on the cake for a cricketer who has transformed the way the game is played.”

Batter Beth Mooney was named the leading women’s cricketer in the world for the second time in three years after being part of an Australia team that won World Cups in 50-over and 20-over formats as well as gold at the Commonwealth Games.

The five Cricketers of the Year are chosen by the Wisden editor, a tradition that dates back to 1889. Performances in the English summer are a major factor and no player can win the award more than once.

Seamer Potts, 24, took 20 wickets in his first summer playing Test cricket for England, while 30-year-old Foakes backed up his superb work behind the stumps with some vital innings with the bat.

Wicketkeeper Blundell, 32, and Black Caps’ team-mate Mitchell, 31, were both prolific with the bat despite New Zealand going down to a 3-0 Test series defeat in England in June.

Harmanpreet, 34, led her team to a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games then inspired a first one-day series win in England since 1999 in September.

England batter Jonny Bairstow was awarded the new Wisden Trophy for the outstanding individual Test performance of the year – his twin hundreds in the record-breaking win over India at Edgbaston in July.

Meanwhile, India batter Suryakumar Yadav was named as the leading Twenty20 cricketer in the world.