Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara has been named as the Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2015 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.
Meanwhile Australia’s Meg Lanning has been chosen as the cricket ‘bible’s’ inaugural Leading Woman Cricketer in the World — the first time the England-based annual has bestowed such an award in 152 editions of continuous publication dating back to 1864.
But editor Lawrence Booth was stinging in his criticism of the England and Wales Cricket Board for their “mishandling” of the Kevin Pietersen affair that saw the star batsman axed from the England set-up.
Sangakkara joined India’s Virender Sehwag as the only two players to be named as Wisden’s Leading Cricketer in the World for a second occasion.
The 37-year-old left-handed batsman and wicketkeeper won the award after a stellar 2014 that saw Sangakkara score an all-time record 2,868 international runs in the calendar year, including a triple century.
His feats, which added to an already brilliant career, included a man-of-the-match performance in Sri Lanka’s World Twenty20 final win over India last year.
Sangakkara also scored his first Test hundred at Lord’s last season, a century which came during Sri Lanka’s Test series win over England.
He later confirmed Wisden’s judgment by scoring a record four successive hundreds at the recent World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
In a tribute to Sangakkara, set to retire from all international cricket later this year, Booth said: “Choosing (him) just felt natural. And his four consecutive hundreds at the World Cup confirmed we’d chosen the right man.”
“We’ll miss him when he’s gone.”
