4 February 1999

Cricket Hall of fame to be launched

Andrew Tong

To mark the end of the century, an International Cricket Hall of Fame will be launched by the newly formed Federation of International Cricketers' Associations on April 9 to commemorate the greatest players in the history of the game.

A panel of 40 current and former players, from Sir Don Bradman and Sir Garry Sobers to the nine Test captains, and other luminaries such as former umpire Dickie Bird and cricket writer E.W. Swanton, were asked to submit their personal top 50, which were amalgamated into one list designed to show a "truly international perspective". The panel based their choices on the criterion of "any cricketers to have retired from international cricket". To celebrate the launch, FICA has produced a photographic collection of the first 50 entries to the hall of fame. They hope to develop further projects, including a "coffee table" book, television documentaries and dinners. FICA was set up last year as a means of communication between the professional players' associations around the world. The Association aims to assist in commercial and funding ventures on behalf of the various domestic representative players' bodies "to ensure the development of education, accident insurance and benevolence projects", while also representing them to the national governing bodies and the ICC.