The Wisden dinner is this evening (no, I’m not going – so we’ll have to wait to hear how The Odious Giles Clarke will disgrace himself this year) in advance of the Almanack’s publication tomorrow.  Snippets have been released to the media already, such as the announcement of the five Cricketers of the Year, namely Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Steve Smith, Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson.  As ever, players can only be listed once as has always been the case, which doesn’t stop the annual complaints about the exclusion of someone who has been awarded it before.

The Telegraph appears to have the exclusive extracts in advance of publication (no favouritism to the Mail it seems) including Stuart Broad talking about his Trent Bridge spell to demolish Australia and the piece about Steve Smith being named as one of the five.

The main editorial calls England’s transformation “the most uplifting story in international cricket of the year” while noting that it began with “Forget leather on willow. The sound of the English game in early 2015 was palm on forehead.”

There is also a note that the Big Three influence on world cricket may be waning, well let’s see about that – there is some good news there certainly but it is far too early to celebrate.

I know some on here eagerly go out and buy a copy the instant it is available, so more will be added as we find out about it.

A small aside for housekeeping. This blog went through half a million hits this morning. Not too shabby for a bunch of outsiders.