That’s an absolutely fitting tribute to a landmark year for both Bumrah and Mandhana — 2024 really did feel like their era, and Wisden has just stamped that with its highest honor. Bumrah’s numbers are almost unreal when you look at them in context: 71 Test wickets at under 15 in a calendar year is the stuff of legends, and that Border-Gavaskar series in Australia — 32 wickets at 13.06 — was pure domination. Booth’s description, “a staccato of limbs somehow forming a symphony” is just poetry, and honestly, it captures perfectly how baffling it must be for batters to face him. That line about “runs off him should have counted double” is such a great image too! And Smriti Mandhana — leading all women globally with 1659 international runs in a single year — is just staggering. Four ODI centuries and a Test hundred (that 149 vs South Africa) show how she's mastered every format. She’s turned into the kind of player young cricketers will grow up modeling themselves on — stylish, composed, and relentlessly consistent. Also, Nicholas Pooran getting the Leading T20 Cricketer tag isn’t a surprise either — his T20 World Cup fireworks and overall finishing power last year were jaw-dropping. And it’s pretty cool to see the Five Cricketers of the Year list lean so much on Surrey’s domestic dominance, with names like Atkinson and Worrall — the former especially seems to be shaping into England’s next big thing, with bat and ball. That’s a classic Wisden wrap — celebration of individual brilliance on the field, sharp critique of the game's administrators off it. Liam Dawson’s numbers in county cricket last year really were old-school all-rounder stuff — 54 wickets and nearly 1000 runs at a near-60 average? That’s the kind of season you almost expect from one of those 1950s legends, not in modern county cricket. No surprise Booth called him the most effective all-rounder. And Sophie Ecclestone — even in a year where her international white-ball form wobbled a bit (by her high standards) — still managed 26 wickets at under 10 apiece across formats at home. That frugality in T20Is — under 3 runs per over! — is just unreal in the modern game. Mitchell Santner’s 13-for at Pune probably deserved the spotlight too; India losing a home Test series after over a decade is the definition of “shock result,” and New Zealand pulling off a whitewash was historic. And then Booth’s Notes — wow, he didn’t hold back, did he? His swipe at the governance mess, especially Jay Shah’s seamless leap from BCCI to ICC chair, says a lot about how murky cricket politics was last year. That Champions Trophy drama with Pakistan still has a bitter aftertaste. And his take on the World Test Championship — calling the Australia vs South Africa final a “shambles masquerading as a showpiece” — pretty much nails the feeling among a lot of fans who want that tournament to actually reflect the two best teams. The Hundred's future, too, seems like a fork in the road: big short-term financial gains, but longer-term risks if the product doesn’t hold up once the initial novelty wears off. Booth’s "utopia or dystopia" line is quite the mic-drop. That’s such a deeply moving and respectful way for Wisden to acknowledge both the human and the cricketing side of the sport. This year's Almanack really balanced its usual celebration of the game's finest performers with some heavy, heartfelt reflections on its most profound losses. James Anderson’s retirement is the end of an era in itself — 704 Test wickets over 21 years is a mind-boggling legacy. His skill, longevity, and ability to adapt to different generations of batters and formats are the kind of things that only happen once in a lifetime for any team. But the tributes to Derek Underwood and especially Graham Thorpe stand out for their emotional weight. Underwood was the original “Deadly,” the slow left-arm artist on sticky wickets, and Brearley’s words must’ve painted him beautifully. Amanda Thorpe’s piece on Graham is both heart-wrenching and powerful. That line — “He tried so hard to beat it” — really drives home how invisible and relentless mental health struggles can be, even for someone like Thorpe, who always seemed so composed and resilient in his playing days. And the way she highlights the stigma around it is such an important message, especially in sports, where so many quietly suffer. Wisden seems to have struck the perfect tone this year: celebrating the game's brightest lights, confronting the realities behind the scenes, and reminding the cricketing world that these heroes are human too.