SPIRIT OF CRICKET // ICC HALL OF FAME


99


THE RUN-MAKERS


Three fine batters from Australia, England and India were the latest inductees to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame


Former Test captains Rahul Dravid of India and Australia’s Ricky Ponting, along with former England batter Claire Taylor, were inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame during the year to May 31.


A classical batsman with an outstanding defence, Rahul Dravid is one of India’s all-time great Test players and one of the most successful No.3 batsmen in Test cricket. Only three players have more Test runs than his 13,288 and he was a major contributor to some of India’s most memorable victories in the 2000s, notably in Adelaide in 2003 when he scored 233 and 72 not out as India won a Test in Australia for the first time in a generation.


Although more naturally suited to Tests, he was able to adapt his game to the shorter formats so well that he also scored 10,889 ODI runs, an incredible achievement. A modest and easily approachable individual, Dravid enjoyed success in his limited opportunities as captain, leading India to rare Test series wins in the Caribbean in 2006 and in England the following year.


Dravid became the fifth Indian to be inducted in the ICC Hall of Fame when Sunil Gavaskar presented him with his commemorative cap before the start of the fifth ODI between India and West Indies in Thiruvananthapuram in November.


Invariably playing his shots with a full flourish of the bat, Ricky Ponting was a sight to behold in his pomp, yet at the same time an uncompromising character on the field, a fierce competitor who would refuse to give opponents an inch.


His statistics make impressive reading. His aggregate of 13,378 runs in 168 Tests stands second only to Sachin Tendulkar’s 15,921, and his 13,704 runs in 375 one-day internationals puts him third behind Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara.


Ponting, who received his commemorative cap from fellow ICC Hall of Famer Glenn McGrath at tea on day one of the third Test against India at the MCG in December, was part of three ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup-winning squads, in 1999, 2003 and 2007, the last two as captain of the side. His leadership sometimes came under scrutiny, although his record of 48 wins from 77 games makes him Australia’s most successful Test captain, ahead of Steve Waugh’s mark of 41 from 57.


Claire Taylor, the seventh woman to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, began her career in the late 1990s, going on to become one of England Women’s premier runscorers across all formats. The first woman to be named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year, she and Charlotte Edwards were the mainstay of England’s batting during the first decade of the 21st century, and played a key role as the team were crowned both ICC Women’s World Cup and ICC Women’s World T20 champions in 2009.


As a youngster, Taylor was as focused on hockey as she was on cricket, which she did not play before she was 13 years old. She was good enough to represent her country at under-17 and under-19 levels in the former, but it was in cricket that she made a deeper impression, scoring 1,030 runs in 15 Tests and 4,101 runs in 126 ODIs, along with 615 runs in 27 T20Is.


Her 156 against India in an ODI at Lord’s in 2006 was arguably her finest moment, although there were many other highspots, including back- to-back centuries against South Africa in the summer of 2003.


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