ENGLAND legend Ian Botham has been surprisingly overlooked from Wisden's five leading players of the last century following a specially-commissioned poll of 100 former cricketers and journalists.

The former Worcestershire all-rounder, widely regarded as one of the great players of the modern era, finished a disappointing 16th in the survey to mark the 137th edition of the famous yellow book, which is published tomorrow.

Botham received just nine votes, falling well behind predictable winner Sir Donald Bradman, whose name was featured on 100 voting slips.

West Indian all-rounder Sir Garfield Sobers finished 10 short of Bradman, while Sir Jack Hobbs -- the only Englishman in the leading five -- fell 60 votes short in third place.

Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne is the only contemporary cricketer in the list.

Sir Vivian Richards completes the top five in the poll, which was weighted to reflect the number of Tests each country had played over the century with England receiving the most votes with 28.

Editor Matthew Engel claim-ed the choice was so tough that not one of the 100 judges correctly voted for the top five.