Three England women earn Wisden recognition

Three members of England's World Cup-winning women's team featured in the Wisden Almanack's prestigious "Five Cricketers of the Year" list in a reflection of the growing stature of the women's game Wednesday. Anya Shrubsole became the first woman cricketer to feature on the cover of the "bible of cricket", while team mates Heather Knight and Natalie Sciver also made the list. "Absolutely honoured by this...hopefully the first of many to come #wisdenjacket," 26-year-old Shrubsole tweeted.

Congratulations to @Heatherknight55, @natsciver and @Anya_shrubsole for making the @WisdenAlmanack top 5 cricketers of the year and to Anya for making the cover of the Almanack, proving once again that cricket has #NoBoundaries pic.twitter.com/naeIwW70Gs

— NatWest Cricket (@NatWest_Cricket) April 11, 2018

Broadcasts of last year's women's World Cup were watched by a record-breaking 182m viewers with Knight's England beating a Mithali Raj-led India by nine runs in the July 23 final at Lord's to claim a fourth title. West Indies batsman Shai Hope, who scored a hundred in each innings of a Headingley Test match in August, and Essex seamer Jamie Porter, who helped the side win a first Country Championship since 1992, completed the quintet. India captain Virat Kohli was named the "Leading Cricketer in the World" for a second successive year, while Raj won the same honour in the women's category.

Massive honour to be named one of Wisden’s 5 cricketers of the year and even better to share it with 2 team mates! #proud

A post shared by Anya Shrubsole (@anyashrubsole) on Apr 11, 2018 at 5:43am PDT

Teenage Afghan spinner Rashid Khan bagged the inaugural "Leading T20 Player of the Year" honour. Recipients of the "Five Cricketers of the Year" award are generally only nominated once for the honour in their career.