Wisden Cricket Monthly – Issue 100 2026

Summary

Issue 100 — the centenary edition of Wisden Cricket Monthly, marking 10 years of publication — leads with "The Ten Most Consequential Players of the 21st Century," alongside an exclusive Jacob Bethell interview by Ben Gardner, Joe Root and Stephen Fleming analysis ("The Grown-Ups Are Back in the Room") by Andrew Miller, a Sobers tribute by Lawrence Booth, and Bangladesh's historic Test win over Australia in Darwin. Editor-in-Chief Phil Walker titles his letter "One Hundred Reasons to Be Cheerful," balancing a critical view of cricket's governance issues with optimism about the game's capacity to renew itself. The cover is a collector's item for regular subscribers.

Root's return to the Test captaincy is the issue's central narrative thread. Miller's piece examines why Root — who previously stepped down feeling the role had diminished his batting — is the right man at the right time, and why the ECB paired him with Stephen Fleming as head coach rather than a more obvious candidate. The "Ten Most Consequential Players" feature is a ranked list with statistical justification and counter-arguments printed alongside, inviting reader disagreement. Sobers is remembered not just as the greatest all-rounder but as a cultural figure who transcended cricket. Bangladesh's Darwin victory is reported as a seismic shift in the global order.

Subscription offer continues with the "Bedtime Tales for Cricket Tragics" book. Periculum Sport and Salix women's cricket bat ads appear.

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Content Guide

▸ Cover Feature / Root & Fleming / Sobers / Bangladesh / Exclusive Interview / Regulars

p.Cover · The Ten Most Consequential Players of the 21st Century
A ranked list of the players whose impact on cricket — statistically, culturally and structurally — defined the era, with each entry including a case for their inclusion and a dissenting paragraph from a different writer. The list includes multiple formats and both men's and women's cricket. Use the list as a debate-starter for your cricket group; the dissenting paragraphs are designed to provoke argument.

p.Cover · Jacob Bethell — Exclusive Interview by Ben Gardner
Bethell, one of England's most exciting young talents, sits for a wide-ranging interview covering his development pathway, his technical influences and his ambitions across formats. Gardner pushes for specific answers about shot selection and bowling plans rather than generic ambition. The interview names the one bowler Bethell most wants to face in Test cricket. Track that head-to-head if England schedules that opponent in the next 12 months.

p.Cover · Root & Fleming: The Grown-Ups Are Back in the Room — Andrew Miller
Miller analyses the Root-Fleming partnership as a deliberate ECB move to bring "adult supervision" to a dressing room that had become chaotic under the final phase of Bazball. He argues that Root's previous captaincy failure was partly structural — he inherited a team in decline — and that Fleming's calm tactical mind complements Root's emotional batting intelligence. Read this before you judge Root's second captaincy stint; the context is entirely different from his first.

p.Cover · Sobers Remembered — Lawrence Booth
Booth's tribute to Sir Garfield Sobers goes beyond the all-rounder statistics to examine his cultural significance as a Caribbean cricketer who carried the hopes of a region through its post-colonial identity formation. The piece includes photographs from Sobers' personal archive. The Sobers lesson for modern cricket: "The greatest players are not the ones with the best averages; they are the ones who change how the game is seen."

p.Cover · Bangla Style! — Bangladesh's Test Win for the Ages
A match report and analysis of Bangladesh's historic Test victory over Australia in Darwin — the first time Bangladesh have beaten Australia in a Test match on any soil. The piece reconstructs the key sessions and names the tactical decision that turned the match. File this under "you will be asked where you were" if Bangladesh cricket continues its current trajectory.

p.Inside · 100 Issues — A Retrospective
The editorial team selects one piece from each of the first 99 issues that defined the magazine's voice, with commentary on why the pick matters and how the issue's context has aged. The retrospective functions as a reading list for new subscribers. Use the retrospective to find the single best back issue to buy if you are new to the magazine.

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Editor's Take

Issue 100 delivers the gravity the milestone deserves without becoming self-indulgent. The Root-Fleming analysis by Miller is the issue's strongest piece — it names the structural problems in English cricket's dressing-room culture that go beyond any single coach or captain. The Ten Most Consequential Players list is designed for argument, which is exactly what a good list should be. The Sobers tribute by Booth is elegant. The weakness: the Bethell interview, while exclusive, feels like standard young-player content that any issue could carry. Bangladesh's Darwin victory deserved more than a single feature; it is arguably a cover-level story in its own right. Best for dedicated Wisden readers who want the 100th-issue weight — and for Root fans who want to believe the second act will be different.

Strengths
• Root-Fleming analysis is the best piece of English-cricket writing this month
• Ten Most Consequential Players list is built for argument
• Sobers tribute transcends sporting biography

Weaknesses
• Bethell interview is solid but not milestone-worthy
• Bangladesh's Darwin win deserved a bigger footprint

Verdict: Essential — A milestone issue that earns the label through genuinely significant analysis; buy for the Root-Fleming piece alone.