Sir Garry makes Wisden top five

London - National hero and cricketing icon Sir Garfield Sobers was named one of five Cricketers Of The Century by the bible of cricket - Wisden Almanack.

Sir Garry was joined by Antiguan Sir Vivian Richards along with Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Jack Hobbs and Shane Warne.

Bradman was the choice of everyone who made up the special Wisden panel consisting 100 players and observers of the game. Sir Garry was second with 90 votes, while Hobbs received 30, Shane Warne 27 and Sir Vivian 25.

Another great West Indian Sir Frank Worrell narrowly missed out as he tied for sixth place with Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee as they both received 19 votes.

The panel whose composition showed a bias towards England and the elders of the game with only one current Test player Steve Waugh voting, included voters from every Test nation.

Twenty-eight of the voters were from England, 20 Australia, 11 each from both South Africa and the West Indies, ten from India, New Zealand and Pakistan eight each, Sir Lanka three and Zimbabwe one.

Five Barbadians were among the 11 - Sir Clyde Walcott, Sir Everton Weekes, Sir Carlisle Burton, Tony Cozier and female commentator Donna Symmonds.

The other West Indians were Clive Lloyd, Gerry Alexander, Tony Becca, Reds Pereira, Allan Rae, and Esmond Kentish.

According to Wisden, while Sir Donald Bradman and Sir Garry were obvious choices, the final three places were hotly contested, with 47 other players receiving at least one vote.

For some the surprise was Hobbs despite having a Test average of 56 and the distinction of notching up more centuries (197) and more runs (61 237) than anyone else in the history of first-class cricket.

The question marks were raised in relation to Hobbs because, according to observers and Hobbs himself, batting was easier in his day before the change to the leg-before rule. No one voted for himself.

Results of the vote will be published today in the millennium edition of Wisden and appear on the publication's website www.wisden.com.

Sir Donald Bradman (100), Sir Garfield Sobers (90), Sir Jack Hobbs (30), Shane Warne (27), Sir Vivian Richards (25), Dennis Lillee and Sir Frank Worrell (19), Wally Hammond (18), Dennis Compton (14), Imran Khan, Sir Richard Hadlee (13)