Wisden Cricketer of the Year award: The Cricket world has seen some of the best players over the years that have made their mark with some impeccable performances on the cricket field and this could very well be quoted as one of the many reasons behind the worldwide popularity of this lovely sport. Moreover, the cricket boards and the ICC always ensure to reward and recognize all these fellow cricketers in order to motivate them for the future.
Keeping up with the same spirit of rewarding and recognizing the most prolific cricketers around, the Wisden cricketer’s almanac honors the best cricketer for a calendar year with the “Wisden cricketer of the year award”. This award is solely based on the quality of performances delivered by the same cricketer in a calendar year and with that said; let’s take a look at the list of top players with most “Wisden cricketer of the year award” to their name.
#1 Sir Don Bradman (Australia)
No of awards: 10 (1930, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1946, 1948)
You don’t need to put forward a formal introduction when you are talking about the “Godfather of Cricket“. Yes, we are talking about the very own “Cricketer of all ages “, Sir Don Bradman. Sir Don was Unarguable, the best batsman in the cricket history and this can certainly be seen by having a look at his stats he registered during his playing days.
Playing for Australia in test cricket, Sir Don has achieved almost every feat in the world of cricket and even now his record for having the best average in test cricket (99.94) is immortal. Getting rewarded for the same feat, Sir Don Bradman was been adjudged the “ Wisden cricketer of the year” for 10 years on a trot and this was without any doubt, the most number of times that a player gets rewarded with the same honor.
#2 Sir Garfield Sobers ( West Indies)
No of awards: 8 (1958, 1969, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970)
If we have to name the best all-rounder in the history of cricket, Sir Garfield Sobers is undoubtedly the topmost name in the list. Not only he ruled the world of cricket with his lethal bowling and impeccable batting, his role as a captain also delivered some great times for the West Indies cricket for over two decades.
Sir Garfield Sobers was a left-handed batsman and a left-handed bowler who played for the west indies team form 1954 till 1974 and he also held some big records to his name in both the departments in the process. Not many people know but Sir Garfield Sobers holds the record of hitting six sixes in a row during a first-class cricket match. Talking about his “ Wisden Cricketer of the year award”, he has been awarded the top honor 8 times in his career and grabs the second spot in our list of Top players with the most number of Wisden Cricketer of the year award” to their name.
#3 Sir Jack Hobbs (England)
No of awards: 3 (1914, 1922, 1925)
Sir Jack Hobbs was a renowned English cricketer who played for the England team in 61 matches during his career from the year 1908 and 1930. Widely known as the “ Master” he is often been quoted as the “ one of the best batsmen” in cricket history. Talking about his first class record, he has scored 61,760 runs with 199 centuries to his name which is still an unbreakable record in the world of cricket.
Whilst he was an exceptional batsman, he also used to bowl right-hand medium pace bowling and came as an impeccable fielder during his era. This was the main reason why he won the Wisden Cricketer of the year award”, thrice in his cricketing career.
#4 Virat Kohli (India)
No of awards: 3 ( 2016, 2017, 2018)
You simply cannot get your eyes off when you see this prolific cricketer from India play in either of the matches during any given day. Not only he has achieved numerous records under his belt in his decade long career, but he has also established himself as one of the best batsmen of the current era. Virat Kohli is currently been hailed by almost every cricket fan and experts around for his prolific batting in all the three formats and he is the only player currently who comes with an average more than 50 in every format.
Being the fastest player to reach the 3000, 4000 and 5000 runs mark, Kohli has also grabbed the reputed Wisden Cricketer of the year award” three times in his short career. Moreover, he has achieved this feat for surprisingly three consecutive years (2016, 2017 and 2018) and you cannot simply ask for any further proof of his greatness in the world of cricket currently. He currently has 25 test centuries and 41 ODI centuries which makes him only the second player after Sachin Tendulkar in the list of most number of centuries.
#5 Sir Viv Richards (West Indies)
No of awards: 3 (1976, 1978, 1980)
Sir Viv Richards is probably one of the best batsmen the cricket world has ever seen. Hailing from Antigua, west indies, this prolific cricketer has amazed everyone with his magnificent batting and aggression as a player on the cricket pitch and that was the main reason why every bowler around used to be scared of him.
During his two-decades-long careers, Sir Viv has scored 8540 runs in the test cricket whilst playing for his national team West Indies. Moreover, if we talk about his ODI career, he has scored more than 7000 runs in also played the role of a captain for the team in the process. Additionally, he was the first cricketer to have won 20 men of the match award and most of them were mainly for the dominance he has shown on the cricket field with his impeccable batting. Talking about his Wisden Cricketer of the year award, he has won the honor thrice in 1976, 1978 and 1980.
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