One of my core beliefs as a cricket writer is that the game does not need people making it more complicated. My response to such notions as Duckworth-Lewis, net run-rate, bonus points and powerplays ranges from “wary” to “completely appalled”.

It thus took a lot of thought before I started to tinker with most cherished traditions of Wisden. The Five Cricketers of the Year date back to 1889. And the ancient rules of selection are widely understood: it’s the Editor’s choice (however eccentric); it’s based on the English season; and you can only be chosen once.

Four years ago we decided that in addition to the Five, we needed the Forty and the One. The Wisden Forty comprises the top players from the past calendar year; this is primarily a tool to profile the world’s leading players and trace their ups and downs.

We don’t rank them in order — except for the One: the Leading Cricketer in the World, chosen on the basis of all cricket throughout the year. The choice for 2006, announced in Wisden 2007, is Muttiah Muralitharan, following Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne and Andrew Flintoff.

But there is nothing to stop anyone being named twice: indeed, Ponting came desperately close again this time, as did Warne (though not, alas, Flintoff). The idea is so simple that I began to wonder why on earth we didn’t think of it before — and then I wondered what might have happened if we had done.

Thus began a fascinating research project involving 16 cricket writers from around the world, culminating in a very unscholarly shouting match in an Adelaide wine bar when eight of us met to discuss the most contentious years.

By the end of it we had a list with a Leading Cricketer for each peacetime year since 1900. And, I hope, a new Wisden institution that will be cherished in the years ahead every bit as much as the Five.

Leading lights

Leading Cricketer in the World
Muttiah Muralitharan
Five Cricketers of the Year
Paul Collingwood
Mahela Jayawardene
Mohammad Yousuf
Monty Panesar
Mark Ramprakash