Brian Lara wouldn't make a World XI, and nor would any Englishmen, according to the annual readers' poll in the December issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly. More readers (32%) felt that Marcus Trescothick deserved selection than Lara (29%), which may be a reflection of the fact that until Tuesday - when he made 178 against Sri Lanka at Galle - Lara hadn't scored a Test century for 11 months. In that time he averaged a shade over 30.

The World XI is dominated by five Australians, and led by one of them: a landslide 723 voters out of 792 thought Steve Waugh should be captain. But the closest an England player gets to the hypothetical action is Darren Gough, who squeezes in as 12th man. So for the first time since the poll started in 1996, the World XI is without a Pom.

The most voted-for player was Glenn McGrath, who polled a near-perfect 96.5% (Waugh managed 95.0%). As many as one reader in eight felt that Sachin Tendulkar wasn't worth a place. Andy Flower became the first Zimbabwean to make the team, but apart from Australia, only South Africa - with Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock - provided more than one player.

The World XI in full

1 Saeed Anwar Pak 32.2%
2 Jacques Kallis SA 41.4
3 Sachin Tendulkar Ind 87.4
4 Mark Waugh Aust 38.4
5 Steve Waugh (capt) Aust 95.0
6 Andy Flower Zim 55.8
7 Adam Gilchrist (wk) Aust 78.9
8 Shaun Pollock SA 83.9
9 Shane Warne Aust 82.3
10 Muttiah Muralitharan SL 65.2
11 Glenn McGrath Aust 96.5
12th man Darren Gough Eng 32.1

It wasn't the only part of the poll dominated by Australia. Steve Waugh walked off with both the Player (25.2%) and the Captain (63.4%) of the Season awards, and said it was "flattering and gratifying to receive recognition of this sort".

And Adam Gilchrist, who said he would remember the Ashes tour "for the rest of my life", was a runaway winner in the wicketkeeper category, polling 59.2% - almost 50% more than his nearest rival, Warren Hegg. For good measure Gilchrist was voted Allrounder of the Season too, seeing off Surrey's evergreen seamer Martin Bicknell by 28.5 to 22.4%.

Glenn McGrath (56.9%) was a shoo-in as Bowler of the Season, with Shane Warne second (20.9%). McGrath's best memory of the English summer? "Playing with my son James on the outfield at Lord's after we had won the Test there".

Mark Waugh (44.2%) pocketed the fielder category, while Oz-turned-Tyke Wayne Clark (45.8%) was Coach of the Season after inspiring Yorkshire to their first Championship since 1968. Completing the Aussie domination was Richie Benaud, who was voted Commentator of the Season for the fifth season in a row (39.3%).

This left England with ... well, not a lot a really. Kent opener David Fulton (19.4%) pipped Yorkshire's Darren Lehmann (18.4%, and yes, he's Australian too) as Batsman of the Season, and revealed that a change of grip and stance before the start of the season helped turn his career around.

And Mark Butcher's day of magic at Headingley was enough to gain him a decisive 52.10% in the Performance of the Season section. "The key moment came when Glenn McGrath was forced out of the attack after lunch," he said, modestly neglecting to mention that it was his ferocious assault that upset McGrath in the first place.

Peter Willey (41.3%) replaced David Shepherd (23.8%) as the Umpire of the Season, while Christopher Martin-Jenkins of The Times and BBC Radio's Test Match Special was the Cricket Writer of the Season for the third year running with 34.6%.

Ian Botham (27.5%) is the readers' Favourite Player of the Past for the fourth successive poll, while Darren Gough and Marcus Trescothick (7.6% each) were tied as the Favourite Current Player. The 2001 Wisden Almanack was the Cricket Book of the Season (38.9%).

Elsewhere, well over a third of voters (37%) believed match-fixing is still going on, but the good news was that 84% hadn't let the scandals affect their love of cricket. One last statistic in this Aussie-centric poll: to the question "Australia are good but are they too ugly?", only 7% said yes. English readers are so used to Australian success that they don't even resent them any more.

Full details of the Wisden Cricket Monthly's 2001 readers' poll appear in the December issue, available in all good newsagents in the UK and Ireland on Monday, price £2.95.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd