Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World

[4] An Australian, Ricky Ponting was chosen as the first winner of the award, for scoring 1,503 runs in international cricket, including eleven centuries during 2003.

[2] It was decided that the first year that would be listed was 1900, as prior to that Engel claimed international cricket was too "inchoate and haphazard to make comparison sensible".

During this selection, Don Bradman was listed the most, winning on ten occasions, while Garfield Sobers was the leading cricketer eight times.

[6] The majority of these have won the award twice, but seven players have been recognised for three or more years: Don Bradman, Garfield Sobers, Jack Hobbs, Viv Richards, Shane Warne, Virat Kohli and Ben Stokes.

In the 2007 edition which published the notional historical winners, Engel noted with "surprise and pleasure" that the first five players were the same as had been selected as Wisden's five Cricketers of the Century.

Don Bradman
Don Bradman was retrospectively named as the notional winner ten times between 1930 and 1948.
Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara was twice recognised by Wisden in 2012, being named a Cricketer of the Year and Leading Cricketer in the World.
Ranjitsinhji
Ranjitsinhji was the first historical winner, being recognised for 1900.
Jack Hobbs
Jack Hobbs is one of only six players to have won the award more than twice.
Harold Larwood
Harold Larwood was the only non-Australian cricketer to be recognised in the 1930s.
Keith Miller
Keith Miller reading Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 1951, his selection year
Garfield Sobers
Garfield Sobers was the winner eight times between 1958 and 1970.
Viv Richards
Viv Richards was recognised in 1976, 1978 and 1980
Imran Khan
Imran Khan was the first Pakistani cricketer to be recognised, for 1982.
Shane Warne
Shane Warne was listed twice in the historical list, as well as being recognised for 2004.