Swashbuckling England all-rounder, Ben Stokes has ended India skipper Virat Kohli's three-year run as Wisden's leading cricketer of the year after being named for the honour on the back of his stellar show in 2019. The 2020 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack also coronated Ellyse Perry as leading women's cricketer of the year as the Australian reclaimed the title from India's Smriti Mandhana. Stokes is the first Englishman to receive the honour since former captain Andrew Flintoff in 2005.

Stokes propelled England to their maiden World title last year with a man-of-the-match performance in the final against New Zealand at Lord's. He then followed it up with a remarkable match-winning unbeaten innings of 135 in the third Ashes Test against Australia. Stokes, 28, who succeeds Kohli, amassed 821 Test runs and scored 719 in ODI's in 2019. "Ben Stokes pulled off the performance of a lifetime---twice in the space of a few weeks," said Wisden's editor, Lawrence Booth was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.