What these players have in common - Davy Jacobs, Ryan McLaren, Alviro Petersen, Juan 'Rusty' Theron and Thami Tsolekile?. They all have been named as Five Cricketers of the Year by SA Cricket Annual 2010.

Hashim Amla crowned a year of great personal achievement by scooping five awards, including Cricket South Africa's premier award, the South African Cricketer of the Year at the 2010 SA Cricket Awards Gala Dinner in July 2010.

South African Cricket Annual is the most respected cricket publication - the 16th under the editorship of veteran cricket writer Colin Bryden. Only the legendary Geoffrey Chettle, who edited the first 22 editions, had a longer tenure as Editor of this prestigious Annual.

Mutual & Federal Insurance Company Ltd. deserves our heartiest congratulations for supporting the publication during the last fourteen years - one of cricket's longest-running sponsorships. The company'sassociation with this publication has run its course.

Colin Bryden, in his editorial, says South Africa's record as a host nation for major ICC events, including the Cricket World Cup, the inaugural World Twenty20 and the 2009 Champions Trophy, is a proud one. All of these events have been staged successfully without any major organisational hitches.

Andrew Samson deserves full credit for meticulously-compiled record section, comprising South African Tests, ODIs, Twenty20 Internationals apart from first-class cricket. ICC Women's World Twenty20 and South African Women International Records also feature in this excellent Annual.

Ros Brodie should be congratulated for formating the scorecards efficiently.

In addition to providing a detailed record of the previous year’s cricket, Bryden strives to commission feature articles by leading cricket personalities and writers.

The 2010 Mutual & Federal Annual includes an article on Makhaya Ntini by Shaun Pollock, who has paid a rich tribute to him. "The legacy of the 'Cattle Herder from Mdingi' will live on for generations to come. In the context of the transition in South African sport and society, it's impsossible to quantify the reconciliatory and progressive role Makhaya Ntini - the outstanding cricketer and big-hearted, high-spirited individual - has made in this country as he progressed to the milestone of winning 100 Test caps.

Although aware that he carried a huge responsibility, picked as the first black African cricketer to play for South Africa, he not only gained respect for his match-winning performances, but won hearts among all ages and races because of how he conducted himself as a proud and committed team member, full of good old South African spirit."

Just for the record Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini formed one of South Africa's most successful fast bowling partnerships of all time. They played 63 Tests in tandem and took a combined total of 490 wickets, 45.24% of the wickets taken by South Africa (including run-outs) in those matches, helping South Africa to win 30 times.

Eleven pages have been devoted to Obituaries' section and 28 pages to Who's who 2009-10.

South Africa's staging of the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy tournament, according to Colin Bryden, was hailed as a success but the country's cricket team once again failed in a global tournament staged on home soil.

The Annual is a quality product from Mutual & Federal, deserving 100% marks for production, designing, formatting and lay-out of scorecards apart from extraordinary colour photographs.