The International Cricket Council (ICC), on Sunday, June 13, 2021, inducted 10 cricketers into the ICC Hall of Fame Class of 2021, with two players each from five different eras going back to the earliest days of international cricket.
The inductees are Aubrey Faulkner of South Africa and Monty Noble of Australia for the early era (pre-1918), Sir Learie Constantine of West Indies and Stan McCabe of Australia for the inter-war Era (1918-1945), Ted Dexter of England, and Vinoo Mankad of India for the post-war Era (1946-1970).
The players from the ODI era (1971-1995) included West Indies’ Desmond Haynes and England’s late Bob Willis. Amongst the modern era (1996-2016) Andy Flower of Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
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“The 10 legends of the game to be inducted have all made a significant contribution to the history of Test cricket, and join an illustrious list of ICC Hall of Famers, taking the total number to 103 as a result of this intake," the ICC said in a statement.
Considered one of India's greatest-ever all-rounders, Mankad played 44 Tests, scored 2,109 runs at 31.47, took 162 wickets at 32.32. He opened the innings for India and bowled left-arm spin and in a Test match against England in 1952, he made 72 and 184 and bowled 97 overs in the match.
He is one of only three cricketers to have batted in every position during his Test career. Later, he also coached another legendary cricketer and fellow ICC Hall of Fame member from his country, Sunil Gavaskar in Mumbai.
“Vinoo Mankad's legacy has been to tell the aspiring Indian cricketer to believe in oneself. He was a great proponent of self-belief. He was the one who kept saying to me that you need to keep scoring runs and keep at it. When you get a 100, let that be the knock on the selector's door. If it is unheard, then score that double hundred and let that knock be even louder,” Sunil Gavaskar said on Vinoo Mankad’s induction.
"You can have the best technique, but if you do not have the temperament to support it you will not succeed, you have to keep hanging in there and have that self-belief. That was the greatest lesson I learnt from him,” Gavaskar added.
Kumar Sangakkara played 134 Tests, scored 12,400 runs at 57.40, took 182 catches, and effected 20 stumpings. He is the highest run-getter for Sri Lanka in Tests and one of only two batsmen to score a triple hundred and a hundred in the same Test match.
Desmond Haynes of West Indies formed an all-time great opening partnership with Gordon Greenidge and himself scored 7487 runs in 116 Tests and 8648 runs in 238 ODIs with 18 and 16 centuries respectively.
Late great Bob Willis played 90 Tests and picked 325 wickets including his best feat of 8/43 that helped beat Australia at Headingley in 1981.
Former England captain Ted Dexter played 62 Tests, scored 4,502 runs at 47.89, took 66 wickets. He later served as England's chairman of selectors and played an influential role in developing what is today's ICC Player Rankings.
South Africa’s Aubrey Faulkner was one of the greatest all-rounders in the early period of the game, playing 25 Tests and making 1754 runs with 4 centuries, and picking 82 wickets with a best of 7/84. Australia’s Stan McCabe played 39 Tests scoring 2748 runs with a best of 232 and a total of 6 centuries.
(PTI inputs)
