Australia’s World Cup-winning all-rounder Lisa Sthalekar was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame on Sunday, along with South African Jacques Kallis and Pakistan batting great Zaheer Abbas.
India-born Sthalekar is the first woman cricketer to achieve the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in one-day Internationals.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I believe that I would ever get to join such an illustrious group of players,” the 41-year-old said after joining former team mates Belinda Clark, Karen Rolton and Cathryn Fitzpatrick in that list.
The flamboyant spin-bowling all-rounder was a key member of four Would Cup-winning Australia squads.
Kallis is the fourth South African player in the list, having retired as the only player to score 10,000-plus runs and claim 250-plus wickets in both test and ODI cricket.
“I certainly did not play the game for any accolades or anything like that, I only wanted to win the games for whoever I was playing for,” Kallis said in a statement issued by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
“But it is nice to be recognised when one has succeeded in the sport…:” said the 44-year-old who remains South Africa’s leading test run scorer.
Only Asian cricketer to have scored 100 first-class hundreds, Abbas is the sixth cricketer from Pakistan to get the honour.
So far 93 players have been inducted in the Hall of Fame under the current system wherein retired players become eligible five years after playing their last international match.