“He wasn’t even England’s best cricketer,” Netizens react as Ben Stokes named Wisden’s Leading Cricketer in the World

While Ben Stokes got the highest honour, Jonny Bairstow, who has led the charge in the Bazball era was awarded the new Wisden Trophy.

“He wasn’t even England’s best cricketer,” Netizens react as Ben Stokes named Wisden’s Leading Cricketer in the World

England Test captain, Ben Stokes was named the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World on Monday. This was Stokes’ third award in four years. While the England all-rounder won the award in 2020 and 2021 purely on the basis of his performance with the bat and ball, Stokes was chosen as the Leading Cricketer for his impeccable captaincy in 2022-23. Notably, ever since donning the England Test captain’s hat, Stokes has won ten out of twelve matches played.

With this, Stokes became the quickest to achieve the feat of ten Test wins. Michael Vaughan was the previous quickest to the mark, from 16 matches. Stokes also became the joint quickest to achieve this feat in world cricket (with Australia’s Lindsay Hassett the first to do so).

Wisden Editor, Lawrence Booth also explained the choice saying there was no other cricketer who has had such a huge impact in such a short period. “It’s hard to think of any other cricketer who could have transformed his team’s fortunes so suddenly as Ben Stokes,” Lawrence Booth stated as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

“When he took over the Test captaincy, England had won one game in their previous 17. By the time they had become the first visiting side to win 3-0 in Pakistan, they had won nine out of ten and were playing with unprecedented style and verve,” he explained.

Meanwhile, cricket fans were not too impressed with this pick as they criticized Wisden. However, a section of fans did feel that Stokes deserved the award.

Check out the reactions here:

Related: “One of England’s greatest away Test match wins,” says Ben Stokes after Rawalpindi Test ends in favour of England

Jonny Bairstow gets Wisden Trophy for outstanding individual Test performance

jonny bairstow

While Ben Stokes got the highest honour, Jonny Bairstow, who has led the charge in the Bazball era was awarded the new Wisden Trophy for outstanding individual Test performance. The wicketkeeper batter piled up a massive 681 runs last summer and played crucial knocks against India and New Zealand. Bairstow scored a quickfire century to help England chase a record target against India.

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