Colin Cowdrey inducted into Hall of Fame by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Player:

CS Cowdrey, MC Cowdrey

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DateLine: 25th June 2009

 

Colin Cowdrey was formally inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame at Lord's, London on Wednesday.

 

The Hall of Fame, run in association with the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA), recognises some of the truly great players.

 

Cowdrey's 21-year Test career for England spanned from 1954 to 1975 and in that time he scored 7,624 runs in 114 Tests averaging 44.06. He scored 22 centuries and 38 fifties and was the first player to appear in 100 Tests and passed fellow Hall of Famer Wally Hammond to become Test cricket's leading run-scorer.

 

Cowdrey captained England in 27 Tests, played 692 first-class matches scoring 42,719 runs at an average of 44.06 and remained heavily involved with the game after his playing career concluded at the age of 42.

 

Cowdrey was born in Bangalore in 1932 and played cricket for Kent, the MCC and University of Oxford as well as representing his country. He was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1956. He died on December 4, 2000.

 

Cowdrey's son, Chris, the former England, Glamorgan and Kent player, received the cap on behalf of his father. He said: "It is a proud moment for me to be here to accept this cap on behalf of my father.

 

"And how proud he would have been to be included in the ICC's Cricket Hall of Fame, if only so he could challenge for a place in England's top seven of all time.

 

"I think he'd be delighted by how the spirit of cricket has been embraced and how increasingly it is becoming more recognised as a means towards protecting everything that is good about our great game.

 

"I'd like to thank the ICC very much on behalf of my father and may the spirit of cricket live on," he said.

 

ICC President David Morgan, who presented the cap, said, "It is great honour to have presented Chris with his father's cap and I cannot think of a more fitting occasion to have done so than at the Cowdrey Lecture last night."

 

Other ICC Cricket Hall of Famers to have received their caps so far in 2009 are Richard Hadlee, Rod Marsh, 12 former West Indies players or their family members or representatives - Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards, Rohan Kanhai, Garfield Sobers, Everton Weekes, Clyde Walcott,Frank Worrell, Gordon Greenidge, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Andy Roberts and Lance Gibbs - also ex-South Africa batsmen Barry Richards and Graeme Pollock, Javed Miandad, Hanif Mohammad, Imran Khan and Alec Bedser.