Cricket: High five for Patel's Wisden nod

Former Black Cap Jeetan Patel had a hugely successful English County season for Warwickshire.

Former Black Caps off-spinner Jeetan Patel has been chosen as one of Wisden Almanack's five cricketers of the year.

Patel was central to Warwickshire's English County success across all three formats in 2014.

He claimed 107 victims in total, more than anyone in the country, and his 25 wickets in the NatWest T20 Blast - the most in the competition - helped his side lift the trophy on home turf at Edgbaston.

The other cricketers of the year were Moeen Ali, Gary Ballance, Adam Lyth and Angelo Mathews.

The Five Cricketers of the Year are chosen by the editor of Wisden, and represent a tradition that dates back to 1889, making this the oldest individual award in cricket. Excellence in, or influence on, the previous English summer are the major criteria for inclusion as a Cricketer of the Year. No one can be chosen more than once.

Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara is Wisden's leading cricketer in the world for 2014. He was man of the match as Sri Lanka beat India in the final of the World Twenty20, and finished with 2868 runs in all formats, breaking Ricky Ponting's record for a calendar year. At the recent World Cup, Sangakkara confirmed his standing by scoring an unprecedented four successive centuries.

Australian Meg Lanning is the inaugural winner of Wisden's leading woman Cricketer in the World. She ended 2014 on top of both the one-day and Twenty20 international batting rankings.