PRETORIA, APRIL 10 (AGENCIES): Dale Steyn joined an exclusive club in being named "Leading Cricketer in the World" for last year in the 2014 edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, published on Wednesday.
Jacques Kallis, who got the award in 2007, is the only other South African honoured in this way.
Steyn is the 11th winner of the award, inaugurated in the Almanack in 2004. The first recipient was Australian Ricky Ponting. India’s Virender Sehwag is the only player to have won it twice, for his performances in 2008 and 2009.
Last year Steyn took 51 wickets in nine Tests at an average of 17.66 and claimed 27 wickets at 15.85 in 13 one-day internationals. "Most remarkable, perhaps, for a man of his pace, was his meanness: an economy rate of 3.65 was comfortably the lowest among bowlers to have sent down 100 one-day international overs in 2013," Wisden editor Lawrence Booth wrote. "Fast, penetrative and parsimonious — it was some combination.
"He shows no signs of slowing down or losing his enthusiasm. ‘I enjoy taking wickets more than most people can understand,’ he says. ‘I’m addicted to that feeling. I live in the moment, but I hope there are many more years of it to come.’"
Steyn was a Wisden "Cricketer of the Year" in the 2013 edition. This year the players recognised in this way are England captain Charlotte Edwards — only the second woman on a list started in 1889 — Shikhar Dhawan of India, Australians Ryan Harris and Chris Rogers, and England’s Joe Root.
A focus of the 151st Wisden is the hostile takeover of the international game by the "big three" — India, England and Australia. "Divide and rule at the ICC (International Cricket Council): The great carve-up of world cricket," is the headline on an essay by Australian cricket writer Gideon Haigh.