ENGLISH cricket receives stinging criticism and Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara the highest of praise in the 2015 Wisden, published today.

Editor Lawrence Booth reserves withering words to depict the England and Wales Cricket Board’s “mishandling of the Kevin Pietersen affair.”

Contrasting accolades are accorded to the increasingly prolific Sangakkara as Wisden’s Leading Cricketer in the World, making him just the second player to regain that annual status.

Sangakkara, set to complete his international retirement when he plays his final Test this year, has raised even his own wonderful standards in a record-breaking run of form.

Wisden grants its global number one position for the previous year to Sangakkara — only India batsman Virender Sehwag has previously been named twice — after he made an all-time record 2,868 international runs in 2014, including a triple-century.

Wisden also notes Sangakkara’s man-of-the-match performance as Sri Lanka beat India in last year’s ICC World Twenty20 final, and four successive hundreds at the just-finished World Cup.

The 152nd edition breaks new ground by announcing its first Leading Woman Cricketer in the World — Australia’s Meg Lanning.

At 21 the youngest person ever to captain Australia, Lanning led her country to the World Twenty20 title and finished 2014 at the top of both the women’s Twenty20 and ODI batting rankings.

Her status as Wisden’s inaugural number one player headlines an expanded women’s section which contains reports of every international match played last year.

Wisden’s five Cricketers of the Year are Englishmen Moeen Ali — on the cover — and Gary Ballance, county success stories Adam Lyth and Jeetan Patel and Sri Lankan ODI and Test captain Angelo Mathews.

by Our Sports Desk