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Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga and ace off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan have been named as two of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year.

The coveted title, picked by Wisden - tagged as the cricket's Bible, is based on the cricketers' influence on English cricket each season.

England's Yorkshire star Darren Gough, South African Jonty Rhodes better known for his world class fielding, and Lancashire all-rounder and England's World Cup poolist Ian Austin are the other three cricketers honoured in the list.

Ranatunga captained Sri Lanka to two convincing wins over England in the One-Off Test at the Oval and in the Emirates Cup Triangular final at Lord's last summer.

Muralithran had English batsmen all at sea when he finished with a record match bag of 16 wickets at the Oval Test. He has been picked as Lancashire's international player for the 1999 English county season.

Both Muralitharan and Ranatunga have played a key role in Sri Lanka's success since the island nation won the World Cup tournament beating Australia by seven wickets in the final played in Lahore 1996.

Left-hander Ranatunga, the longest serving Test cricketer and the most experienced at present, has scored over 4,500 runs in Tests with four centuries and around 7,000 runs in one day internationals. He is the only surviving member of Sri Lanka team which lost to England by seven wickets in the inaugural Test played at Sara Stadium. Ranatunga scored a half century on debut, thus becoming the first Sri Lankan to score a Test fifty. Ranatunga holds the world record of leading a country in most number of one day internationals - 188, beating Australian Border (174). Of the 110 one day international wins registered by Sri Lanka, 87 have been under Ranatunga's able leadership.

Muralithran, who has captured 203 Test wickets, will become only the second Sri Lankan Test cricketer to play English country's cricket after his vice captain Aravinda de Silva who had a highly successful season for Kent a few years back.

Having missed the Asian Test Championship and the Pepsi Cup triangular in India after undergoing an operation in Australia, the star off break bowler will return to the Sri Lankan side when they defend the World Cup in England from May 14.