by Arthur Crabtree » Fri Dec 27, 2013 4:20 pm
Only England and Australia have played a great deal of cricket overseas this year, which counted against India and SA players for me. Otherwise I might have gone for Pujara. Chanderpaul and Ashwin I didn't pick for the shortlist because they haven't played eight games, which was a pretty arbitrary qualification, and most of the SA players only played eight. Still, WI played a lot of weaker teams, and India mostly at home, so I didn't mind too much leaving them out. Kohli made the shortlist principally for scoring a hundred in SA. Southee arguably should be in, but no one would pick him number one, so it doesn't matter.
Anyway, I think Australia have had a tough year, with two Ashes series, and a tour of India, so anyone who has done well out of that lot deserves some credit.
I always say that everybody's right.