Janette Brittin, Mahela Jayawardene and Shaun Pollock have been inducted into ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and the formal induction will take place before the T20 World Cup 2021 final between New Zealand and Australia at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Brittin, who died in 2017, played 27 Tests and 63 ODIs for England Women from 1979 to 1998 and scored 1935 and 2121 runs in the two formats respectively, and holds several records. She is the most capped Test player among women; she was the oldest woman to score a Test hundred (at 39 years and 38 days vs Australia in 1998) and the second-oldest to score an ODI hundred (at 38 years and 161 days vs Pakistan in 1997); she scored the most Test runs in a calendar year (531 in 1984) and she has the most 50-plus scores (16) in women’s Tests.
She also top-scored in the 1993 World Cup final against New Zealand to take England to the title.
Jayawardene, too, held many records for Sri Lanka – he captained them, played five ICC finals and won the T20 World Cup in 2014. He also scored over 10,000 runs in both Tests and ODIs, and is now considered an astute T20 coach.
Pollock, apart from being among the finest allrounders from South Africa, also took over the captaincy at a challenging time from Hansie Cronje and went on to play 108 Tests and became the first South African to 400 Test wickets.
“The ICC Cricket Hall of Fame is our way of honouring and celebrating the greats of our game. Only the very best players are recognized for their contribution to cricket in this way,” ICC acting CEO Geoff Allardice said. “I would like to congratulate Mahela and Shaun on their induction into this illustrious group and it is a wonderful way to commemorate Janette’s life and career.”
Jayawardene thanked those who helped him during his career, saying: “I am very grateful for the recognition and would like to enjoy and share the moment with all those that have helped me on my journey, including my family, friends, coaches, team-mates and, most importantly, Sri Lanka cricket fans who passionately supported and inspired me during my career.”
Pollock said: “I would like to thank the ICC for this recognition of my career. It’s an amazing honour to be included in the Hall of Fame alongside the very illustrious company that has already been inducted. It’s a real cherry on the top or maybe even a book end of what has been a thoroughly enjoyable cricketing experience and I’d like to thank my teammates who played such a massive part along the journey.”
Report courtesy and credit to https://www.espncricinfo.com/
