It was interesting to see that the new edition of Wisden includes only four Cricketers of the Year, having decided to exclude the fifth - thought to be Pakistani bowler Mohammed Amir - because of his ban for spot fixing. I thought Scyld Berry pitched it just right, saying if they'd included the mystery man it would condone his cheating and if they'd picked someone else he would be there by default. Congratulations, though, to Jonathan Trott and Tamim Iqbal - surely automatic choices - and also Chris Read and Eoin Morgan. It must be difficult to select players for this traditional accolade when convention decides that they can't have been amongst the Five in any previous year. 2010 may not have been Read's best year but he captained Notts to the County Championship in fine style. Morgan enhanced his reputation in one-day cricket, especially at the T20 World Cup, besides making a reasonable start to his Test career against Bangladesh and Pakistan last summer.
The England Irishman scored only six for the Kolkata Knight Riders in today's IPL opener, which was won by MS Dhoni's Chennai SuperKings, thanks to Anirudha's runs and three great yorkers from Tim Southee to deny KKR in the final over. Back in England, while a few of Morgan's international colleagues had mixed fortunes on the first day of the County Championship. After filling their boots against Cambridge University last week, both Alistair Cook and Ravi Bopara fell cheaply to Kent's Darren Stevens who ended the day with 5-14 from 12 overs, leaving Essex on 49-6, still 198 short. Earlier, Rob Key's was the first wicket to fall this season but Sam Northeast stuck an excellent century.
Veteran Glen Chapple claimed four wickets for Lancashire against Sussex, but Yorkshire's Adil Rashid went two better against Worcestershire, whose innings was boosted to respectability by Matt Mason's 63 in 54 balls batting at number ten. Miracle of miracles, Hampshire's former England star Simon Jones actually made it onto the pitch at the Rose Bowl and even took a wicket, but I wonder how long it will be before injury strikes again. He and his colleagues toiled against Durham, for home 36 year-old Dale Benkenstein scored 118 and three team-mates, including Ian Blackwell, compiled half-centuries.
So, to mark the Wisden launch I will go one better and select five players of the day: Tim Southee, MS Dhoni, Dale Benkenstein, Darren Stevens and Adil Rashid. I hope none of them get done for spot-fixing this summer, or I may have to take it back....
