Melbourne, Feb. 10 (IANS): Former Australia captains Ricky Ponting and Karen Rolton, and Norm ONeill, the ex-Test batsman, have been named as the latest inductees into the Australian Cricket Hall of fame. The formal induction will be at the 2018 Allan Border Medal Veremony here on Monday.
Ponting, the most capped Australian Test and One-Day International, is also the leading run-scorer for his country over both formats. He amassed 13,378 runs in 168 Tests at an outstanding 51.85 with 41 centuries, while in ODIs, he scored 13,704 runs in 375 outings at 42.03 with 30 centuries.
He also captained Australia a record 324 times during his 17-year international career across formats, and led them to back-to-back ICC Cricket World Cup titles in 2003 and 2007. Ponting is also the only player in the world to have taken part in more than 100 Test victories. He played his final Test against South Africa at the WACA ground in Perth in 2012.
“Ricky Ponting is unquestionably one of the finest Test and one-day cricketers Australia has produced,” Peter King, the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame Chairman, said in a cricket.com.au statement.
“An exceptional fieldsman, he has an outstanding record as a top-order batsman and captain, and was a key figure during a highly successful era in Australian cricket. That only he and Sachin Tendulkar have scored more than 13,000 runs in both Test and one-day cricket speaks volumes of his place in the game’s history.”
Inducted into the ICC Hall of fame in 2016, Rolton made her international debut for Australia Women in 1995 and played 14 Test matches scoring 1,002 runs at 55.66, including two centuries and five half-centuries. She also took 14 wickets at 23.35.
Her unbeaten 209 against England at Headingley in 2001 was then a world record for the highest individual score in a Women’s Test. She was chosen as ICC’s inaugural Women’s Player of the Year in 2006.
O’Neill, who passed away in 2008 aged 71, played 42 Tests for Australia after making his international debut aged just 21.
He scored 2779 runs including six centuries during his seven-year international career between 1958 and 1965 -- the highlight of which was his 181 in the famous tied Test against the West Indies in 1960. The Australian Cricket Hall of Fame was officially opened in 1996 and the induction of Ponting, Rolton and O’Neill brings the total number of inductees to 49.
