Muttiah Muralitharan to be inducted into ICC Hall of Fame

Muttiah Muralitharan along with Karen Rolton, Arthur Morris and George Lohmann will be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, the cricket governing body announced on Wednesday (July 27).

The legendary offspinner is set to become the first Sri Lankan player to be inducted.

Rolton, the former Australia women's captain, represented her country in 14 Tests and 141 One-Day Internationals to end with 1,002 and 4,814 runs respectively. She was part of the Australian women's sides that won World Cups in 1997 and 2005.

Morris, who represented Australia from 1946 to 1955, played 46 Tests to end with 3,533 runs at an average of 46.48 with 12 centuries to his name.

Lohmann, the former England pacer, played just 18 Tests in a career that spanned close to a decade but picked up 112 wickets at an astonishing average of 10.75 with five ten-wicket hauls.

"The ICC Cricket Hall of Fame recognises some of the truly great players from cricket's long and illustrious history, and this year's inductees thoroughly deserve to be in this highly prestigious group," said David Richardson, the ICC chief executive. "Muralitharan has been one of the greats of the modern era. His guile and consistency over the years helped Sri Lanka develop as a very competitive side in both Tests and ODI cricket.

"We have in the list some very famous names of different eras. Lohmann and Morris were outstanding performers during their times and are part of cricket folk-lore, while Rolton's performances have been recent and came during an era when women's cricket became very competitive."

James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief, congratulated Morris and Rolton on their achievement. "There are few honours more outstanding than being inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and these two players have shown throughout their careers that they are more than deserving of this award," he said.

"Arthur Morris is one of Australia's greatest ever batsman and was part of Sir Donald Bradman's famous 'Invincibles' side of 1948, he was classy and elegant and amassed big scores when Australia needed vital runs at the top.

"Karen has often been recognised as one of the world's best female cricketers and her on-field success resulted in a number of titles for the Southern Stars during her playing career. She has directly led to the success of our current Australian Women's team and many of our experienced players would have taken learning from her during her time as captain of all three formats."