Cricket: Five English, no Aussies, in Wisden's top players

LONDON - Reflecting a golden 12 months for their test team, the five 2005 Wisden Cricketers of the Year are all Englishmen for the first time in 45 years.

Australia, the leading cricket side in the world, were over-looked.

Ashley Giles, Steve Harmison, Robert Key, Andrew Strauss and Marcus Trescothick are the elite quintet selected for the 142nd edition of the cricketers' bible which goes on sale on Thursday.

"We obviously considered a good many other players," said editor Matthew Engel. "But in a season when England won seven tests out of seven, the case for these five was overwhelming."

Under Michael Vaughan, England won all three home tests against New Zealand and all four against West Indies. Before the start of the English season, the period from which the Cricketers of the Year are selected, they defeated West Indies 3-0 in the Caribbean.

Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff, who matured into a genuine international all rounder in 2004, were not eligible as they had been previously been named as a Cricketer of the Year.

Harmison, who took 38 wickets in the two home series after capturing 23 at 14.86 in the Caribbean was a clear cut choice.

So too was Strauss, already rated as the best England left-hand opener since John Edrich, after scoring centuries in his debut series against New Zealand, West Indies and South Africa.

Left arm spinner Giles, who had been ready to give up test cricket after he was jeered mercilessly by some sections of the crowd in the first test against New Zealand at Lord's, rallied to become an essential member of the side with 22 wickets at 23.13 against West Indies.

Strauss's opening partner Trescothick scored heavily with three centuries in the two homes series while Key struck 207 and an unbeaten 93 against West Indies.

Australia leg spinner Shane Warne is Wisden's first Leading Cricketer in the World following his return to the international arena after a drugs suspension.

"At the start of 2004, Australia were wobbling a little," said Engel. "But by the end they were as dominant as ever. The biggest difference was the return of Warne."

In notes by the editor, Engel criticises the decision of the England and Wales Cricket Board to take live cricket off terrestrial television.

"We are talking about a situation where the overwhelming majority of the British population will never come across a game of cricket in their daily lives. Never, never, never, never.

"There will short-term consequences as sponsors drift away; the longer-term effect will take a generation to unfold. Some believe these could be serious. I think we're looking at a potential catastrophe."

Engel also condemns the decision to schedule this year's Ashes series in July and August when the British soccer season starts, quoting approvingly from an editorial in The Times calling the decision "total madness".

- REUTERS