2008

The first Wisden under the editorship of Scyld Berry of the Sunday Telegraph attempted to be more of a cricketer's Almanack, featuring Test and tour reports by the likes of Nasser Hussain, Michael Holding and Ravi Shastri, and other articles by Ian Bishop, Ian Chappell and Ian Healy. Berry's inaugural Notes by the Editor express concern at the growing trend towards physical violence on the field, and also castigate the English board for failing in its responsibilities towards the domestic game. The articles include an appreciation of Sir Donald Bradman in the year of his centenary, a look at the county season through the eyes of four of its stalwart performers, and appreciations of three retired superstars: Adam Gilchrist, Brian Lara and Glenn McGrath. England opener Andrew Strauss assesses "What Duncan Fletcher did for us", while the World Cup and inaugural ICC World Twenty20 championship are also covered in detail. The traditional Five Cricketers of the Year (Ian Bell, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ottis Gibson, Ryan Sidebottom and Zaheer Khan) are feted alongside five prominent players from the past who, for various reasons, missed out on the honour. They are Abdul Qadir, Bishan Bedi, Wes Hall, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Jeff Thomson. A new award for the leading schools cricketer of the year is introduced: the first winner is Jonathan Bairstow, son of the former England wicketkeeper David. The 2008 Almanack was available in various formats: traditional hard and soft cover, large-format, leather-bound and, for the first time, in electronic ebook form.

Editor Scyld Berry
Pages 1680
Price £40

Almanack essays

Notes by the Editor

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2008