LONDON: Joe Root, England’s outgoing Test captain, has been named as the Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2022 edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.
Root quit last week after five years as England skipper following a dismal run of one win in 17 games. However, his impeccable form with the bat in 2021, when he scored 1,708 runs at an average of 61, helped him earn the global award.
Root succeeds his own potential successor with the national side, Ben Stokes, who took the honour in 2019 and 2020. Root is the third Englishman to receive the accolade since it was launched in 2003, with Andrew Flintoff the first in 2005.
“Root rose above the struggles of England’s Test side to produce one of the all-time great performances in a calendar year,” Lawrence Booth, Wisden’s editor, said. “His 1,708 runs have been beaten only by Mohammad Yousuf in 2006 and Viv Richards in 1976, and included six hundreds. And he scored his runs in his fifth year as England captain, at which point many of his predecessors had already called it a day.”
Meanwhile, Root’s England team-mate Ollie Robinson was named as one of the almanack’s five cricketers of the year.
Robinson joined Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Devon Conway and Dane van Niekerk in earning the prestigious award, which dates back to 1889 and predominantly recognises performances from the previous English summer.
Lizelle Lee is the new Wisden leading women’s cricketer in the world, the first South African to hold the title.
