Cricket legends Janette Brittin, Shaun Pollock and Mahela Jayawardene were inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame on Saturday, the International Cricket Council announced in a statement.
Former England cricketer Janette Brittin played 27 Tests and 63 ODIs for England between 1979 and 1998, is among the greatest batters to have played women’s cricket.
She is the highest run-scorer (1935 at 49.61), century-maker (five) and most-capped player (27) in women’s Test history.
She was similarly dominant in ODIs, making 2121 runs at an average of 42.42 with five centuries across 63 ODIs and was part of England’s World Cup-winning side in 1993. She made 48 opening the batting against New Zealand in the final of that tournament and was the top run-scorer in the competition with 410 at an average of 51.25.
Meanwhile, former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene played 652 international matches, comprising 149 Tests, 448 ODIs and 55 T20Is. Only India’s Sachin Tendulkar played more international matches, pipping the Sri Lankan by 12 games.
A classy right-hander who scored runs relentlessly and captained his nation superbly, Jayawardena’s 149 Tests are the most by a Sri Lankan, as are his 448 ODIs (12,650 runs at 33.37, 19 centuries) where globally only Tendulkar (463) played more matches.
He is Test cricket’s ninth greatest run-scorer with 11,814 to his name at an average of 49.84, making the sixth most Test centuries in the format’s history. Jayawardene retired from international cricket in 2015 at the end of Sri Lanka’s Cricket World Cup campaign.
Shaun Pollock meanwhile, went on to play 108 Tests, 303 ODIs and 12 T20Is across 13 years after making his Test debut in 1995 against England. An all-rounder in the truest sense of the word, Pollock scored 7386 runs and took 829 wickets in international cricket, which is the seventh most of all time.
Few have ever been as complete a player. Testament to that fact is that among players to have taken more than 400 Test wickets, only Kapil Dev (434 wickets, 5248 runs) scored more runs than Pollock’s 3781.
