Trio earn Wisden accolade

Bell, Sidebottom and Gibson named in top five

By Joe Drabble   Last updated: 9th April 2008

Ottis Gibson Durham

Gibson: Stunning season

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Ian Bell, Ryan Sidebottom and Ottis Gibson have been named among the Five Cricketers of the Year in the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.

India's Zaheer Khan and West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul were also included in cricket's oldest accolade.

All players gained recognition for their influence on the past English season, with four out of the five honoured for their achievements on the international stage.

England bowling coach Gibson was the exception, the 38-year-old's nomination came for his stunning performance for Durham last season where he claimed 80 wickets.

Strike bowler

The Barbados-born bowler was pivotal the county's successful season as he finished the season as one of only two seamers in the top five wicket taking bowlers in the County Championship season.

Gibson also celebrated taking all 10 wickets in an innings in the match against Hampshire.

Nottinghamshire paceman Sidebottom burst back onto the international arena this year and has become England's key strike bowler after claiming 24 wickets in the recent Test series against New Zealand.

England batsmen Bell was rewarded for another fine year both domestically and for his country.

Although the progress the Warwickshire player made in 2007 was not always reflected by his scores, the 25-year-old has a Test average of 42, and is now well-established as an England regular in both formats of the game.

Khan took 18 wickets in the summer as he inspired India to their first Test series win in England since 1996.

Chanderpaul's inclusion came as no surprise after the gritty left hander excelled against his English opponents and came away from the tour as the only West Indian to score more that 60 in any of the four Tests.

Kallis award

South African Jacques Kallis was named the leading cricketer in the world for 2007 after averaging 86 with the bat and just 20 with the ball.

The Proteas all rounder scored 1,210 Test runs and racked up nearly 1,000 one-day international runs to join Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Andrew Flintoff and Muttiah Muralitharan as only the fifth player to win the award.