The International Cricket Council today announced that Brian Lara and Enid Bakewell will be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame tomorrow evening at the LG ICC Awards 2012.
West Indies’ Lara becomes the 67th male member of the Hall of Fame, while England’s Bakewell becomes the third woman to be inducted. Lara and Bakewell will attend the LG ICC Awards tomorrow evening at the Waters Edge in Colombo.
Two further inductees will be announced later in the year. The duo of Bakewell and Lara attended a special Hall of Fame cocktail reception on Friday evening to celebrate their inductions. The reception was attended by a variety of Lara’s former team-mates as well as the current West Indies squad. Also attending the reception were members of the Ireland squad, along with their coach and Lara’s former team-mate Phil Simmons, as well as bowling coach Craig McDermott. Brian Lara was one of the West Indies most prolific batsmen having represented the country for 131 Tests and 299 ODIs in a career that spanned 17 years. He amassed some 11,953 runs at an average of 52.88. He scored 34 Test centuries and 48 half-centuries while his best performance with the bat featured against England in Antigua in 2004 when he scored 400 not out and to this day that total still remains the highest by any Test batsmen in an individual innings.
In the 299 ODIs that Lara played he scored 10,405 runs at an average of 40.48 that included 19 centuries and 63 half-centuries and in 1994, when captaining the West Indies, he led the team to victory in the ICC Champions Trophy in England.
Lara’s First Class career began in 1987 and when it ended in 2008 he had scored 22,156 runs with his highest score coming in the English County Championship playing for Warwickshire against Durham when he hit an unbeaten 501 in 1994.
Lara said of the induction: “I think it’s a very humbling experience for me. First of all, to be considered and then to be selected is a great moment. To be named alongside some of the great cricketers not just from West Indies but from all around the world like Sir Garfield Sobers, the Three Ws, Sir Vivian Richards is a very special feeling.”
“I had quite a few special moments in my career. I think our 2-1 series win in Australia in 1993 under Richie Richardson was very special. Then obviously winning the ICC Champions Trophy in 2004 under my leadership was also a very special occasion,’’ added Lara. Joining Lara in the Hall of Fame is one of England’s all time cricketing legends from the female game, Enid Bakewell.
