ON the subject of bookmakers, Wisden has taken the unusual step of nominating only four Cricketers of the Year for 2010 having selected five every year since its inception in 1926 (with the exception of the war years).
The four receiving this prestigious honour are Bangladeshi Tamim Iqbal, Nottinghamshire captain Chris Read and England batsmen Eoin Morgan and Jonathan Trott.
So what of the fifth? Wisden will only comment that it would have been one of the three Pakistani players found guilty of corruption by the International Cricket Council.
In keeping with the gentlemanly nature of the game, Wisden elected to exclude Amir, Asif and Butt after the spot-fixing scandal in which they were caught up.