Saturday, October 3, 2009

New Inductees to ICC's Hall of Fame

First, some history. Back in the late 90s / early 00s, the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) selected 55 players for induction into an unofficial Cricket Hall of Fame. These inductees included pretty much all the greats who had been retired for five years or more. The list is included at the bottom of this post for easy reading, and is also available here.

In January of 2009, the ICC finally recognized this list and decided to draft new inductees into the Hall of Fame every year during the ICC Awards Ceremony.

The new inductees for 2009 are: Wasim Akram, Steve Waugh, Herbert Sutcliffe, Clarrie Grimmett, and Victor Trumper. A group of people extremely deserving to be the first new inductees. However, I am surprised that Sutcliffe was not included in the original inductees.

Any bets for next year's inductees? Remember, they have to be retired for at least five years to be inducted. Courtney Walsh is a no-brainer for me, as is Andy Flower. Martin Crowe is another possibility. Maybe Richardson and Haynes too? Ranatunga and DeSilva could also be contenders. Azharuddin probably deserves it but the whole legal crap might be an issue (same with Hansie Cronje, but he is not as deserving as Azhar). In the bowling department, Waqar and Allan Donald, perhaps? Ambrose too?

What are your thoughts? Would be interested in hearing them.

I think the ICC Hall of Fame is pretty cool and look forward to the annual inductions.

The initial inductees are listed below.

Sydney Barnes, Bishan Bedi, Alec Bedser, Richie Benaud, Allan Border, Ian Botham, Geoffrey Boycott, Donald Bradman, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Denis Compton, Colin Cowdrey, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Lance Gibbs, Graham Gooch, David Gower, WG Grace, Tom Graveney, Gordon Greenidge, Richard Hadlee, Walter Hammond, Neil Harvey, George Headley, Jack Hobbs, Michael Holding, Leonard Hutton, Rohan Kanhai, Imran Khan, Alan Knott, Jim Laker, Harold Larwood, Dennis Lillee, Ray Lindwall, Clive Lloyd, Hanif Mohammad, Rodney Marsh, Malcolm Marshall, Peter May, Javed Miandad, Keith Miller, Bill O’Reilly, Graeme Pollock, Wilfred Rhodes, Barry Richards, Vivian Richards, Andy Roberts, Garfield Sobers, Brian Statham, Fred Trueman, Derek Underwood, Clyde Walcott, Everton Weekes, Frank Woolley, Frank Worrell.

Make your pitch on this post...



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11 Pitched:

  1. Homer said...
     

    The ICC Hall of Fame is a joke! Only an organization like the ICC can induct a player with 4 Test caps ( barry Richards_ ahead of Dilip Vengsarkar or Zaheer Abbas.

    Cheers,

  2. SledgeHammer said...
     

    Well, cricket is not only Test cricket. There's first-class cricket to consider as well. Plus, Barry Richards' career was cut short not because of his failure, but because of SA not being allowed to play. So that would have be

    Absolutely right though, Zaheer Abbas deserves an induction immediately.

    I don't think the HOF is a joke though. It's a good way to honor cricketers of the past. It's a big deal in Tennis, and all US Sports.

    Induction can't be perfect, but the list of names has been pretty good so far.

  3. Anonymous said...
     

    since when did first class cricket come under the purview of the ICC?

    And Ben Hollioake's career was cut short because he died in a road accident. As did Dhruv Panvove. Not their fault, so why are they not in the HoF?

    Cheers,

  4. SledgeHammer said...
     

    Is Adam Hollioake's career really HOF worthy? I guess you know more about him than I do. But I certainly don't think so. Hollioake couldn't even make a permanent spot on the English ODI team.

    BTW, the HOF was not started by ICC. So they just adopted what the players association had put up. Blame FICA. ICC has its fair share of criticism. But this is not one of them. The HOF is a good idea. It will expand from here.

    First-class cricket is a huge part of cricket. More so in the past.

    I'm not saying Barry Richards is a shoe-in, but I think he has a case.

    Also, from Wikipedia, I think this testimonial is pretty good.

    "Richards was also chosen by Sir Don Bradman as a member of his 20th century team as an opening batsman."

    Again, not a guarantee for inclusion, but there's something more to Barry Richards than what his 4 tests show.

    The HOF is not just limited to ICC matches. I'm pretty sure someone like Tony Cozier will (and should) also be inducted because of his media contributions.

    It's the sport as a whole, not just stats. And that includes first class cricket.

  5. SledgeHammer said...
     

    BTW, part of my first comment was cut out. It should say: "So that would have to be taken into consideration."

    That may have caused some confusion.

  6. karachikhatmal said...
     

    @ Homer

    Zaheer Abbas should never make it to the hall of fame because of his average against the Windies...

    i was thinking inzi should make it some time, although his average against the aussies and saffers is pretty shit as well... by the zaheer logic he shouldn't make the cut

    however, his ODI average is still better against the top sides, and what's more, almost all his test centuries were in winning causes, and his average in huge chases just balloons to bradmanesque levels...

    inzi for HOF in 2012!

  7. SledgeHammer said...
     

    @KK: Inzi will definitely make it. He may not be inducted exactly 5 years after retirement, but within 10 years after retirement he will earn his spot. His ODI and Test combined achievements are quite impressive

    I think Zaheer Abbas will still make it at some point, but not anytime soon.

    I think Salim Malik deserves it as well, but that's never going to fly for obvious reasons.

  8. Jonathan said...
     

    The choices made always include some questionable ones, but in principle, I'd have to agree with Sledgehammer. Whatever the ICC has to do with it, a cricket hall of fame shouldn't just be about test cricket.

    Similar issues pop up in other sports which have had fractured histories.

  9. Homer said...
     

    KK,

    Barry Richards had an average - only against the Australians. That did not stop him from being a HoFamer.

    Jonathan,

    Mark Ramprakash for the HoF then!

    Cheers,

  10. SledgeHammer said...
     

    @Homer: Ramprakash fared quite poorly on the Test and ODI stage despite being given umpteen chances. And that would negatively impact any chances.

    Graeme Hick would have a better case than Ramprakash. But still there are way too many people

    Barry Richards has an amazing first-class and List A record, and in the extremely limited official Tests he was eligible to play, he was outstanding. And then he did very well in unofficial tests as well.

    His techniques are universally recognized to be among the best to ever grace the field. When Bradman chooses you as an opening batsman in an all-time XI and calls you "“the world’s best-ever right-handed opener", I think that really strengthens your case.

    Somehow I think Ramprakash missed out on Bradman's list. I will have to check though.

  11. Rayden said...
     

    Is there a criteria for being inducted into the Hall of Fame or it depends on a group of people/panelists taking decisions?

    I like the Hall of Fame idea for cricket as well like its there for sports in US. I often wondered though how someone gets inducted into one of these.

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