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WISDEN CRICKET MONTHLY

Issue 74 EDITORIAL T: 0203 696 5730 E:

Grace under fire

John Stern looks back on England’s triumphant visit to India in 1984/85, when David Gower ’s under-strength tourists prevailed against a backdrop of assassinations and political chaos

India’s dream factory

Every year, in the build-up to the IPL, India’s conveyor belt churns out more young male talents of outrageous skill, each of them desperate to make the grade. But behind the shimmer and promise, what is life really like for those on the edge of fame and fortune? Aadya Sharma investigates

Wintry shoots and the promise of spring

It’s early January. We’re a week out from

THE Top Six

The month in cricket No.1

Khawaja’s censure exposes ICC’s double standards

The ICC’s decision to ban Usman Khawaja from wearing boots highlighting the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is the latest in a long line of inconsistencies and iniquities from the governing body, writes Andrew Miller

Team of the Month

Jo Harman picks a team of the month’s standout performers, including two fast bowlers who shone on Test debut

England women: the 2024 inbox

Following an uneven winter tour of India, Katya Witney looks forward to a challenging year for the England women’s team ahead of the T20 World Cup in September

The Northumberland Project

Northumberland, at the northernmost tip of England, is an unlikely place to find a thriving cricketing community, but a collaborative project between the local cricket board and Chance to Shine is taking the game into new and untapped areas, writes Hamza Shehryar

Elgar plays his own tune till the last

With Dean Elgar’s retirement from Test cricket followed by the naming of a second-string squad for South Africa’s tour of New Zealand, Lawrence Booth says signs of the longer format’s decay are becoming increasingly hard to ignore

NEWS CYCLE

Ben Gardner gets dizzy trying to follow a spin setting at 1600 RPM

MICHAEL VAUGHAN

PUNDIT, AGITATOR, URN LIFTER, FREETHINKER

RE:VIEW

Ahead of England’s five-match Test series in India, we asked three writers for their predictions

The Game’s GONE

#9 TEST CRICKET

Mailbox

In association with Chapel Down, the letter of the month receives a bottle of awardwinning English sparkling wine – Chapel Down Brut. Based in Kent, Chapel Down is England’s leading wine producer and the official sparkling wine of the ECB.

‘We failed those individuals’

Essex chair, Anu Mohindru

In other news...

Lancashire Dale Benkenstein, the former South Africa Test

A Passage to India

For much of the next two months Ben Stokes’ trailblazers will be passing through some of India’s remotest cricketing outposts, aiming to pull off the near-impossible. What chance, if any, do they have? Phil Walker introduces our 20-page special looking at this most intriguing of rivalries

RAshwin

‘I SOMETIMES FEEL THAT PEOPLE DON’T UNDERSTAND THE GAME’

WISDEN 2023 MEN’S TEST XI

THE TEAM WAS SELECTED BASED ON PERFORMANCES FROM JANUARY 1-DECEMBER 31, 2023

1. USMAN KHAWAJA

AUSTRALIA 13 Tests, 1,210 runs at 52.60, strike

2. ZAK CRAWLEY

ENGLAND 8 Tests, 606 runs at 43.28, strike

3. KANE WILLIAMSON

NEW ZEALAND 7 Tests, 695 runs at 57.91,

INNINGS OF THE YEAR

HARRY BROOK ENGLAND 186 176 balls, 270 minutes,

5. TRAVIS HEAD

AUSTRALIA 12 Tests, 919 runs at 41.77, strike

6. LORCAN TUCKER

IRELAND 4 Tests, 351 runs at 43.87, strike

7. RAVINDRA JADEJA

INDIA 7 Tests, 33 wickets at 19.39, economy

8. RAVICHANDRAN ASHWIN

THE YEAR IN NUMBERS 17 Number of sixes

9. MITCHELL STARC

AUSTRALIA 9 Tests, 38 wickets at 29.63, economy

10. PAT CUMMINS

AUSTRALIA 11 Tests, 42 wickets at 27.50, economy

COACH OF THE YEAR

ANDREW MCDONALD AUSTRALIA Almost two years on, the

11. STUART BROAD

ENGLAND 8 Tests, 38 wickets at 26.28, economy

SPELL OF THE YEAR

PHOTO BY RICHARD HEATHCOTE MARK WOOD ENGLAND 5-34

WISDEN WOMEN’S CROSS-FORMAT XI

WCM’s all-star team covering all women’s international cricket in 2023

PROCREATION

Next in our series on the origin stories of elite cricketers, Jo Harman examines the background of a West Indian batting legend and the emergence of his similarly obdurate son, both having learnt the game the hard way on the Guyanese coast

THE GREAT... No. 15

TEST TRIPLES

COURTNEY WALSH

The legendary Jamaican fast bowler on captaining the Windies, his fearsome partnership with Curtly Ambrose and making a friend for life in Jack Russell

HOTBEDS

No.11 THE A52 CORRIDOR

Number 79 David Pearson

The Wisden Club Cricket Hall of Fame

Time Warp

The winner of this month’s quiz will receive a copy of Son of Grace by Vaneisa Baksh, the new biography of Frank Worrell from Fairfield, available to buy at thenightwatchman.net .

Books of the Month

Viv Richards is at the heart of Nick

THE STORY OF CRICKET IN 50 BOOKS

YOUR GAME

The Shot That Changed My Life

ROBIN SMITH