Who is the first batsman to play for the full Australian side before playing first-class cricket since the inaugural Test back in 1877? The answer is David Warner, according to Steven Lynch. He has topped the run-charts in the just concluded Ashes series in Australia in 2013-14 - his tally being 523 runs at an average of 58.11, including two hundreds and two fifties.

While profiling Mitchell Johnson, Steven Lynch has remarked: "He's quick, he's tall, he's talented...but most of all, Mitchell Johnson is a left-armer, and only two others before him (Alan Davidson and Bruce Reid) took 100 Test wickets for Australia. Dennis Lillee spotted him at 17, and called him a "once-in-a-generation bowler".

Johnson's figures of eight for 61 are the best by a left-arm fast bowler vs South Africa in Tests. With 37 wickets at 13.97 runs apiece in the Ashes series 2013-14, he has equalled a world record for most wickets by a left-arm fast bowler in a Test series. Bill Whitty (Australia) had claimed 37 wickets at 17.08 runs apiece in the five-Test rubber vs South Africa in 1910-11.

In Nathan Lyon's Facts' section, Lynch says he was the third Australian (after Tom Horan vs England at Sydney in 1882-83 and Arthur Coningham vs England at Melbourne in 1894-95) to claim a wicket with his first ball in a Test match, dismissing Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka at Galle in September 2011. Lyon took seven for 94 against India in the 2012-13 Delhi Test. All three of his first-class five-fors have come in Test cricket.

Over the years, The Wisden Guide to International Cricket has become the essential companion for every cricket enthusiast ahead of a packed international season and the ideal complement to the long-standing Spring bestseller Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.

The above publication has included almost every player expected to play in a Test match in 2014. Apart from the 200 players, with each receiving a full page with a photograph and the facts and figures of their career, the pages have also been devoted to the leading non-Test-playing nations and the international umpires, referees and coaches, as well as an easy-to-read, quick-reference records' section.

The Wisden Guide to International Cricket 2014 is invariably worth having and Steven Lynch is to be congratulated on another good year's work. Quite reasonably priced, and pleasingly designed, this fascinating collection has been attractively presented by both compiler and publisher.

The text is lively and interesting throughout and not over-statistical. This publication has earned many friends over the years and will assuredly continue to do so, filling an important gap in the cricket reference library.