Taylor, Flintoff and Broad in contention

A list that began with ten contenders for the award for Test bowling performance of 2009 has been whittled down to five. Only the spells of four fast bowlers and an offspinner remain - and it isn't one of Muttiah Muralitharan's.

Graeme Swann's 5 for 54 to bowl England to an innings victory in Durban is the only performance by a spinner on the shortlist, but it is one of three spells from Englishmen to make the cut. The others are Andrew Flintoff's injury-defying spell to lead England to an Ashes Test victory at Lord's after 75 years, and Stuart Broad's 5 for 37 which helped his team regain the urn at The Oval.

The other contenders for the award are Jerome Taylor and Mtchell Johnson. Taylor for his spell of 5 for 11 which destroyed England at Sabina Park, dismissing them for 51 to give West Indies the victory that would help them lift the Wisden Trophy. And Johnson for his spells at the Wanderers which led Australia to victory by 162 runs, giving them a 1-0 lead in the series soon after they had been beaten by South Africa at home.

The top five were drawn on basis of votes from a 14-member jury that includes some of the leading cricket experts in the world and Cricinfo's senior editors.

These five performances made it to our final shortlist while Zaheer Khan's 5 for 65 in Wellington, Rangana Herath's 4 for 15 against Pakistan in Galle, James Anderson's 4 for 55 against Australia at Lord's, Sreesanth's comeback in Kanpur, and Shane Bond's sterling return in Dunedin, didn't.

A departure from the usual year-end awards looking at overall performances, ESPNCricinfo's honours are in two categories: a jury-based award looking at the year's best batting and bowling performances and a stats-based award using numbers from Cricinfo's extensive database.

The winners for all the awards will be announced on February 19.