It's always interesting to find out who Wisden decides worthy to be one of their prestigious Five Cricketers of the Year. By tradition, players cannot be picked more than once, so some years it must be frustrating. What about Dale Steyn? No, he was picked last year. Michael Clarke? No, 2010. Stuart Broad? Same. Graham Onions? Ditto. Ho-hum.
Actually, there were some deserving candidates fulfilling the criteria. Moeen Ali would have walked it in a less busy year, while Ben Stokes, Michael Hogan, Brad Haddin and Jim Allenby must have been considered. Ashes participants occupied four of the places, two from England, two Aussies. Joe Root's name owes more to that 180 at Lord's than anything else. At that point, I was hailing him as the genuine article, an England Test player with the talent and temperament to be a star for a decade or more. Once he puts the winter debacle behind him, I'm sure he'll bounce back.
England skipper Alastair Cook was selected in 2012 but his female counterpart Charlotte Edwards finally makes the list. Aged 34, she has led the England Women to success in all formats, and claimed the multi-format Ashes trophy last summer. Claire Taylor beat her to the title of first female to be one of the famous Five, but Edwards is as worthy as any male cricketer in the 2014 edition.
Chris Rogers was plucked from Middlesex to fill one of the problemmatic Australian opener slots for the tour here. Playing the anchor to the more ebullient Warner or Watson, the then 35 year-old justified the decision with three centuries between August and January. Just two years his junior, Ryan Harris also enjoyed a superb year, bustling in on his dodgy legs to take plenty of wickets while conceding few runs. Injury has restricted him to only 24 Tests, yet he has amassed 103 victims at under 23 apiece. That's world class. His current absence from the game may yet become permanent but Harris is surely guaranteed legend status!
The quintet is completed by Shikhar Dhawan. The bejewelled Delhi opener made a sensational debut with his 187 in 174 balls against Australia last March, and proceeded to be one of the stars of the Champions Trophy in the summer. I won't forget being at Cardiff to witness his exquisite hundred against South Africa. It's great to see an Indian who hasn't made the big time on the back of IPL success, and I hope he continues to delight audiences with his strokeplay for years to come.
2013 was also the year of Kevin Pietersen (one of the Five in 2006), Michael Clarke (2010) and the retiring Sachin Tendulkar (1997, but could have been almost any of the past 25 years!). Jacques Kallis had to wait until 2012 before his recognition and of course he has also now departed the arena.
As for 2014, who will make the grade? Virat Kohli is in the box seat, and the likes of Kane Williamson, Angelo Mathews and Sunil Narine are in the frame. IN the end, success in Test cricket should be the prime driver for inclusion so that's an open competition....
