England seamer James Anderson, Durham captain Dale Benkenstein and South Africans Mark Boucher and Neil McKenzie are the other players to be recognised.
James Kirchner, from the University of California at Berkeley, and Anne Weil, of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, looked at fossil record data spanning 530 million years.
James Kirtley's career best one-day figures of 6-50 and 92 from Phil Mustard helped defeat Durham when they visited the south coast, before Yardy's 68 in the win over Yorkshire ensured his men would line up in the last eight.