England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff has been named the leading cricketer of 2005 by Wisden.
Flintoff beat Australia's Shane Warne to the title, which was voted on by cricket journalists and editors at Wisden.
Flintoff helped England win the Ashes for the first time since 1989. He's the third winner of the award, previously won by Warne and Australia captain Ricky Ponting.
The 2006 edition of Wisden, which is to be published on Wednesday, has a photograph of Flintoff and Warne on the cover."Our cover picture sums up the year as we saw it," said Wisden editor Matthew Engel. "We felt in the end that 2005 was the year when Freddie (Flintoff) touched greatness."
Writing in Wisden, journalist Simon Barnes said Warne was the only other rival for the title.
"Statistically he has the better claim," Barnes wrote. "But in the brutal arithmetic of sport, the fact is that, in the greatest competition of them all, Warne's team lost and Flintoff's team won."
Flintoff, who is captaining England in their tour of India, called the award "very humbling and obviously a great honor.""The last 12 months have been fantastic for English cricket and I'm looking forward to building on that success," he said.Wisden also named five cricketers of the year: England's Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones and Kevin Pietersen, and Australia's Brett Lee and Ponting.
{{/usCountry}}Flintoff, who is captaining England in their tour of India, called the award "very humbling and obviously a great honor.""The last 12 months have been fantastic for English cricket and I'm looking forward to building on that success," he said.Wisden also named five cricketers of the year: England's Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones and Kevin Pietersen, and Australia's Brett Lee and Ponting.
{{/usCountry}}Wisden has been published yearly since 1864.