Wisden Names Kallis As World's Leading Cricketer

The new edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, on sale tomorrow, has named Jacques Kallis as its 'Leading Cricketer in the World' for 2007. The South Africa all rounder scored 1,210 Test runs at an average of 86 last year and took 20 wickets at 25, as well as scoring almost 1,000 runs in one-day internationals. He becomes the fifth player, after Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne and Andrew Flintoff (joint winners in 2006), and Muttiah Muralitharan to win the award.

Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year, a more established tradition, are Ian Bell, Ryan Sidebottom, Ottis Gibson, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Zaheer Khan. Bell established himself as an integral part of England's batting line-up, while Sidebottom's second coming as an international cricketer, six years after his first, was one of the stories of the summer. Gibson, now England's bowling coach, is rewarded for his part in Durham's most successful season yet.

The two overseas nominations both played crucial roles in their sides' summer tours. Chanderpaul played a lone hand throughout West Indies' 3-0 Test defeat, and Zaheer's left-arm swing, often delivered from round the wicket, inspired India to a first series win in England for 21 years.

Elsewhere in the 145th Almanack, the new editor Scyld Berry, the cricket correspondent of the Sunday Telegraph, expresses concerns over the increasing prevalence of violence on the field of play. "The worst example came in the Kanpur international when Gautam Gambhir ran straight down the pitch and straight into Shahid Afridi," he says. The ICC, Berry says, "must be no less effective in preventing physical violence. For once this taboo is broken, it could rapidly spread, just as sledging - sustained personal abuse - has spread from international teams downwards".

Berry's Editor's Notes, the book's famous soapbox, also include a critique of the way the English game is run, arguing that the county game should not absorb 50% of profits when it generates only 20%.