Shai Hope and Jamie Porter join Shrubsole, Knight and Sciver in top five; Virat Kohli named Leading Cricketer in the World for second year running
Wednesday 11 April 2018 17:32, UK
England Women's World Cup winners Anya Shrubsole, Heather Knight and Natalie Sciver have been named among Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year for 2017.
Shrubsole, Knight and Sciver helped England to World Cup victory on home soil last July, with the hosts beating India by nine runs in a thrilling, sold-out final at Lord's.
Shrubsole, the first woman to appear on the cover of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, brought England back from the brink of defeat against India, taking five wickets in 19 balls to end with match figures of 6-36 as Mithali Raj's side slipped from 191-3 to 219 all out.
England captain Knight contributed over 350 runs during the tournament, including a maiden ODI century against Pakistan, while all-rounder Sciver scored two hundreds, a fifty in the final and earned headlines for playing a deliberate shot through her legs, named the 'Natmeg'.
Windies batsman Shai Hope and Essex seamer Jamie Porter complete Wisden's top five.
Hope became the first batsman to score two tons in the same first-class game at Headingley as his side recovered from a crushing defeat to England in the day-night first Test at Edgbaston to win the second.
Porter, meanwhile, claimed 75 Specsavers County Championship wickets at 16.82 as Essex won their first four-day title since 1992 in their maiden season back in the top flight.
Wisden editor Lawrence Booth wrote: "This year, Wisden includes three women among its Five Cricketers - all members of England's World Cup-winning squad. Previously, only two women have been chosen: Claire Taylor in 2009 and Charlotte Edwards in 2014.
"When Heather Knight lifted the World Cup at Lord's in late July, it was the culmination of a personal tour de force that helped change women's cricket for ever. Not only had she captained England with aplomb throughout the tournament, but her 364 runs at an average of 45 - including a century against Pakistan - were central to their success.
"No stroke in 2017 was more memorable than Nat Sciver's deliberate deflection between her legs, instantly christened the 'Natmeg'. But she was more than a one-trick pony. She hit 369 runs in the tournament at an average of 46 and a strike-rate of 107, including hundreds against Pakistan and New Zealand, took three for three against West Indies, and scored a half-century in the final against India.
"The World Cup was slipping away from England when Anya Shrubsole embarked on a trophy-winning spell of five for 11. She finished with figures of six for 46, the best in a World Cup final, and the status of a national hero. That followed her winning hit in the semi-final against South Africa, which England won by two wickets in the last over.
"Shai Hope produced one of the individual performances of the year. After West Indies had been thrashed in the First Test at Edgbaston, Hope made 147 and 118 not out to inspire them to a famous win in the Second at Headingley. He was the first player in 534 first-class matches to score two hundreds in a game there, instantly making him the West Indian wicket all opposition attacks craved most.
"Handed the task of leading the Essex attack, the 24-year-old Jamie Porter responded superbly. With his fast-medium swing and seam, he took 75 Division One wickets at an average of just 16 to inspire his team to their first County Championship title since 1992."
Knight was thrilled with the award, which can only be won once in a cricketer's career.
"I think it's one of the ultimate honours in cricket, to be Wisden Cricketer of the Year," the England captain told ecb.co.uk.
"You see the five cricketers and it's a once in a career thing, and for every cricketer it's something they want to tick off the theoretical bucket list.
"It's an absolute honour and delighted obviously that it's not just me, it's Anya and Nat as well.
"Three women in the top five shows the reach that the last 12 months have had for women's cricket. It's a great show of where the women's game is at and I'm delighted to be one of the three."
India captain Virat Kohli has been named Leading Cricketer in the World for the second time in a row after a run-laden 2017 in all formats, with his compatriot, Raj, taking the Leading Women's Cricket accolade after becoming the highest run-scorer in women's one-day internationals.
Plus, Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan was awarded the inaugural Leading Twenty20 Cricketer in the World award.
"For the second year in a row, Indian captain Virat Kohli is Wisden's Leading Cricketer in the World. In all formats in 2017, he scored 2,818 runs - more than 700 ahead of Joe Root in second place. Three of his five Test hundreds were doubles, and the other two unbeaten, and his 1,460 one-day international runs were unsurpassed.
"Mithali Raj made it an Indian double after she was named the Leading Woman Cricketer in the World. In the course of captaining her country to within a whisker of the World Cup title, she became the leading run-scorer in the history of women's one-day internationals, and completed her seventh successive half-century, another record.
"The inaugural winner of Wisden's new award is Afghanistan's teenage leg-spinner Rashid Khan, who took 80 Twenty20 wickets in 2017 at just 14 apiece, and with a remarkable economy-rate of 5.53. His googly became one of the most dangerous deliveries in the world game.
