The Wisden Trophy was a cricket competition that began in 1963 between England and West Indies. The competition was announced to determine the winner of the test series between the two sides. It was named after John Wisden, an English cricketer who is credited for publishing the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.
There was no fixed interval at which the tournament is held and is held in both England and West Indies. A total of 28 editions of the Wisden Trophy were held. West Indies won the series 14 times, whereas England won it 10 times. Additionally, out of the four drawn series, West Indies retained the trophy thrice.
In 2000, the organizers announced the Malcolm Marshall Award for the bowler who took the most wickets in the series. Marshall himself took 35 wickets in the 1988 series, the highest till date in the history of the competition. Thus, the winner of the Malcolm Marshall Award got 1,360 Euros. However, if they could surpass Marshall’s tally of 35 wickets, they would receive 34,000 euros.
Courtney Walsh came closest to breaking Marshall’s tally in 2000 when he picked up 34 wickets. The highest wicket-taker of the Wisden Trophy was Curtly Ambrose who managed to pick 164 wickets. On the other hand, the highest run-getter was Brian Lara, with 2,983 runs. Notably, Lara is also known for scoring 400* in the 2004 series.
The most successful captain of West Indies was Viv Richards, who won 13 of the 18 matches as his captain. The most successful English skipper is Michael Vaughan, who won 10 of the 11 matches be captained. In 2020, the Wisden Trophy was renamed to Richards-Botham Trophy. This was named after the two legendary all-rounders from West Indies and England, Sir Viv Richards and Ian Botham.
