Test greats David Boon, Matthew Hayden and the late Betty Wilson will be inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame this week, Cricket Australia said on Sunday, reports BSS.
Top-order batsmen Boon and Hayden were key figures who played more than 100 Tests for Australia, while all-rounder Wilson was a female cricketer “ahead of her time”, Hall of Fame chairman Peter King said.
“David Boon and Matthew Hayden are among a select group of just 12 players to have appeared in 100 Test matches but their significance goes way beyond that simple statistic,” he said.
“(Boon) epitomises the tough-as-teak Australian cricketer and his induction into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame is thoroughly merited.”
Boon made 7,422 runs in his 107 Tests in the 1980s and 1990s, while Hayden scored 8,625 runs in his 103 Tests from 1994 to 2009. Boon described his induction as an “enormous honour”.
“To join some of those great players from past eras, some of the guys that I played with as well, it’s a huge honour and something that is going to be very special to my family and I for a long period of time,” he told reporters.
Wilson, who died in 2010, is the second woman after Belinda Clark to be in both the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame and the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
She played only 11 Tests, partly due to World War II, scoring 862 runs at 57.40, and took 68 wickets at 11.80. The trio will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Allan Border Medal ceremony in Sydney on Monday.
