The publication has named five players since 1926 but
this year only Bangladesh's Tamim Iqbal and England's Eoin Morgan, Chris Read
and Jonathan Trott made the shortened list.
Three Pakistan players Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and
Salman Butt were banned for a minimum of five years each for manipulating
incidents in last year's Lord's test against England.
Fast bowler Amir, who was named Pakistan's player of the
series against England, has been widely reported by British media to be the
name omitted from the prestigious list.
"The fifth Cricketer of the Year, I can reveal, was
going to be one of three Pakistan players — Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and
Mohammad Amir — until they were banned by the ICC's independent tribunal for
the bowling of deliberate no-balls in the fourth Test at Lord's," Berry
said in a column in The Telegraph newspaper.
"Which one of the three was selected? I am not going
to say because it would not be in keeping with cricket's tradition of
fairness." The Wisden Cricketers of the Year dates back to 1889 and is
bestowed upon players who made the biggest impact during the previous English
summer.
