McGrath and Turner join Hall of Fame

Two of Australia's finest fast bowlers, Glenn McGrath and Charlie Turner, will become the newest additions to the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame on Monday. Turner and McGrath represented Australia a century apart but will together be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Allan Border Medal ceremony in Melbourne, bringing the number of inductees to 37.

The nomination of McGrath follows last year's induction of his long-time team-mate Shane Warne, who bowed out from Test cricket alongside McGrath during the Sydney Ashes Test in the first week of 2007. The inaugural winner of the Allan Border Medal in 2000, McGrath took 563 Test wickets at 21.64 as well as 381 wickets at 22.02 in one-day internationals, and was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in December last year.

"I'm very humbled but it's a huge honour," McGrath said. "I grew up in the country watching cricket and loving cricket from a young age and the thought of one day playing for Australia was such a dream.

"To achieve that, but then to be lucky enough to have played for as long as I did in an amazing era, and now to be inducted into the Hall of Fame is a huge honour. To be alongside some of my heroes growing up, guys like Dennis Lillee, Rod Marsh, the Chappells, there are some incredible names there. To think that my name is alongside those is pretty amazing."

Just as McGrath was the pre-eminent Australian fast bowler of his era, Turner was Australia's leading fast man during his international career, which spanned the years 1887 to 1895. Turner, known as the "Terror", was the natural successor to Fred Spofforth, whose final Test was Turner's debut, and in 17 Tests Turner collected 101 wickets at the average of 16.53.

He remains the equal second-fastest man to the 100-wicket milestone in Tests; among Australians, only Clarrie Grimmett can match Turner's record of reaching the mark in 17 matches. Turner, who played for New South Wales, also had a remarkable first-class record of 993 wickets at 14.25.

"Glenn McGrath and Charlie Turner were each the outstanding Australian fast bowler of their era," David Crow, the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame chairman, said. "Despite careers more than a century apart, they had much in common. Tall, right-arm fast bowlers, both men hailed from country New South Wales. Their superb records demonstrate the dominance each had over opposition batsmen over a prolonged period."

The Hall of Fame began in 1996 with the induction of ten players and a further 27 have been added in the years since.

Hall of Fame inductees Warwick Armstrong, Richie Benaud, John Blackham, Allan Border, Sir Donald Bradman, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Alan Davidson, George Giffen, Clarrie Grimmett, Neil Harvey, Lindsay Hassett, Ian Healy, Clem Hill, Bill Lawry, Dennis Lillee, Ray Lindwall, Charles Macartney, Rod Marsh, Stan McCabe, Glenn McGrath, Graham McKenzie, Keith Miller, Arthur Morris, Monty Noble, Bill O'Reilly, Bill Ponsford, Bob Simpson, Fred Spofforth, Mark Taylor, Hugh Trumble, Victor Trumper, Charlie Turner, Doug Walters, Shane Warne, Steve Waugh, Bill Woodfull.