The five cricketers of the Twentieth Century

Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Century will be unmasked on the Wisden website, www.wisden.com, at 10am tomorrow morning (Wednesday, April 5).

The Five were chosen by a distinguished panel of 100 experts, including legendary cricketers such as Sir Alec Bedser, Lord (Colin) Cowdrey, Fred Trueman, Ted Dexter, Richie Benaud, Steve Waugh, Sir Clyde Walcott, Clive Lloyd and Sunil Gavaskar.

The panel was asked "to set aside any bias to your own country and your own era, and name the five whose excellence at cricket during the 20th century has made the greatest contribution to the game". In all 49 different players received votes, but five clear-cut winners emerged. No-one voted for himself - but someone did vote for his son.

The Millennium edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, which contains a special section reviewing cricket in the 20th century, is published on Thursday, April 6, by John Wisden & Co. Ltd, and distributed by Penguin. Hardback (ISBN 0-947-76657-X) and soft-cover (0-947-76658-8) versions are available: both cost £29.99.