Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe batting greats, Kumar Sangakkara and Andy Flower, were on Sunday (June 13) inducted into the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Hall of Fame. The two cricketers were rewarded for their amazing services to the modern-day game.
Both Sangakkara (12,400) and Flower (4,794) are their nations’ highest run-getters in the history of Test cricket to date. While Sangakkara is Sri Lanka’s second entrant into the Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan, Flower is the first from Zimbabwe to join the elite list of cricketers that has now grown to 103 names.
Sangakkara and Flower are among the ten new inclusions to the Hall of Fame, with the ICC deciding to induct players from different eras of the game. The list transcends time from pre, inter and post World War as well as the modern eras.
From the era before 1918, the ICC selected South Africa’s Aubrey Faulkner and Australia’s Monty Noble for inclusion in the Hall of Fame. Faulkner’s induction comes on the back of him flourishing with both bat and bowl during his playing days at the highest level.
From the inter-war era that spanned 1918-45, Sir Learie Constantine, the former West Indies all-rounder, made the cut alongside Stan McCabe, the former Australia batsman.
The ICC inducted former India and England all-rounders, Vinoo Mankad and Ted Dexter, from the post-war era, while also including former West Indies batsman Desmond Haynes and ex England paceman Bob Willis in the ODI era (post-1971) category.
Haynes was elated to have been inducted into such an esteemed list of players by the ICC.
I have played Cricket with some of the greats of the game from the West Indies who are also inducted in the ICC Hall of Fame. That team from 1978 till about the 1990s was a fantastic team. As a young boy growing up in Barbados, I never dreamt that I would be one day inducted in the ICC Hall of Fame. I have really come a long way and I am very happy for this honour.
He added.
The legendary Sunil Gavaskar took pride upon the induction of Mankad, whose name is often reminisced incorrectly for every instance of the run-out at the non-striker’s end rather than for his amazing exploits on the field.
Vinoo Mankad’s legacy has been to tell the aspiring Indian cricketer to believe in oneself.
said Gavaskar, recalling how Mankad’s words enouraged him in his early years.
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.
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.
He added for his boyhood hero.
Coming back to Sangakkara and Flower, the two cricketers continue to serve the game in their respective capacities post-retirement. While Sangakkara is now the president for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) – cricket’s law-making body – in the UK and also does commentary from time to time, Flower is one of the world’s best contemporary coaches, with an incredible record with sides like England, and is involved in various T20 leagues these days. Their induction in the ICC Hall of Fame is a just reward for their remarkable contribution to the game.
