Wisden Cricketer of the Year: James Anderson
Wisden Cricketer of the Year: Dale Benkenstein
Wisden Cricketer of the Year: Mark Boucher
Wisden Cricketer of the Year: Neil McKenzie
Wisden Cricketer of the Year: Claire Taylor

The sun still shone on the freshly mown turf at Lord’s Cricket Ground yesterday. The Victorian pavilion did not crumble, nor did Old Father Time’s weathervane spin. With the sole harrumphing of one curmudgeonly member, the unveiling of — gasp — a woman as one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year was met with smiles and hearty congratulations.

Every peacetime year since 1889, the Editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack has honoured the players who most impressed him in the previous year. Scyld Berry, the present Editor, has made history by adding the name of Claire Taylor to the likes of Don Bradman (1931), Graham Gooch (1980) and Shane Warne (1994).

The announcement comes almost ten years to the day after MCC, the club that owns the ground, first admitted women members.

Wisden Cricketer of the Year: James Anderson

The bowler made the leap from an inconsistent member of England’s Test attack to a permanent and reliable presence

Wisden Cricketer of the Year: Dale Benkenstein

Wisden reward all-rounder's feat in leading Durham to title, the culmination of a sharp upturn in fortunes at Riverside

Wisden Cricketer of the Year: Mark Boucher

Boucher became the most prolific keeper ever in February 2008, after a brief yo-yo at the top of the pile with Adam Gilchrist

Wisden Cricketer of the Year: Neil McKenzie

An epic of concentration in which he defied England for 553 minutes and 138 runs was one of the crucial innings of the summer

Wisden Cricketer of the Year: Claire Taylor

In an era when run-scoring has been neither so high nor so fast as in men’s cricket, Taylor has averaged 43 in Tests

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Sixteen years ago a teenaged Taylor sat in one of the stands at Lord’s and watched England win the women’s World Cup for the first time since they triumphed in the inaugural tournament in 1973. Last month she was in the England team that won it a third time — that’s three times more than the England men have achieved — in Australia.

Taylor, 33, was the leading run-scorer, but Berry had already decided to include her after she scored almost 800 international runs last year and helped England to retain the Ashes. It was the first time that England had won Down Under since their first series in 1935. In a low-scoring one-off Test in Bowral, Taylor made 79 and 64 not out to secure a six-wicket win.

Berry said: “Beating Australia in Australia is the objective for all cricketers and Claire almost single-handedly saw England through to victory. It would be a sin of omission, an act of prejudice, to exclude her from the accolade. The England women have been the pride of the nation in recent years.”

It was, to be fair, not a vintage year. The Wisden Editor is not allowed to select anyone who has won before, so some of last year’s leading men, such as Kevin Pietersen and the South Africa captain Graeme Smith, were ineligible. Yet Taylor deserves her place more than this year’s four other nominees. “There is no element of political correctness,” Berry said. “The best cricketers in the country should be recognised, irrespective of gender.”

At Lord’s yesterday, Taylor was bursting with pride. “It is an absolute honour to be part of the pantheon of players who have graced Wisden,” she said.

She had been inspired to concentrate on cricket, rather than hockey — at which she was also an international — after watching England win the World Cup in 1993. She dashed down to the outfield at the end of the final and asked her namesake, the England bowler Clare Taylor, if she could have a picture taken with her. Five years later they were team-mates.

Taylor read mathematics at Oxford, where she played in The Queen’s College men’s first XI. “I played cricket five days a week, which gave me an excellent grounding in the game,” she said. “Although it may have had something to do with me getting a 2:2.”

Like most women cricketers, she has faced prejudice and intimidation but it has made her a better player. “Sometimes guys try to bowl bouncers at your head, but once they see you can play, they soon start bowling properly at you,” she said.

She was picked by England in 1998 and has scored a world record 12 international hundreds. The pick was her 156 not out against India at Lord’s in 2006. It remains the highest score made in a one-day international at the ground by any batsman — beating the 138 made by Viv Richards for West Indies in 1979.

By day Taylor is a management consultant at Reading University, with an employer generous enough to allow her to spend half the year playing cricket. She relaxes by playing the violin for the Aldworth Philharmonic and played for her Ashes team-mates in their hotel — although, as the elder statesman of the side, she is not always on the same musical wavelength. “We have tour CDs and I’ll put my suggestions in but they usually decide my music isn’t cool,” she said.

She models herself on Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain and one of the game’s finest batsmen, although that does not extend to sledging opponents. “We’ll have a bit of banter to get under someone’s skin,” she said, “but we won’t say anything too rude.”

Vital statistics

43,000+ girls received coaching and played matches in schools or clubs in 2007; forecast to rise by 50% in 2008

90% of counties field junior girls’ teams

460 clubs in England and Wales are involved in women’s or girls’ cricket

300+ clubs have women’s sections

280+ clubs have girls’ sections

130+ clubs have both

Source: England and Wales Cricket Board