AB de Villiers, Neetu David, and Alastair Cook became the 113th, 114th, and 115th inductees into the ICC Hall of Fame respectively, instituted in 2009. The honour emerged as a collaboration with FICA, the players’ association which had already 55 members in its Hall of Fame, during the global body’s centenary celebrations in 2009. Players who have been retired for at least five years are eligible for the award, granted by a panel of journalists, historians, and existing Hall of Fame members. The inductees receive special caps at the annual ICC awards, usually held in January, to celebrate the legends of the game.
AB de Villiers becomes just the seventh South African to be added to the Hall of Fame, following Aubrey Faulkner and Shaun Pollock’s induction in 2021. The explosive South African batter enjoyed a prolific career across formats, racking up 420 caps and scoring over 20,000 runs in the process. The Pretorian made his debut in 2004 as a 20-year-old against England i the erstwhile Port Elizabeth and made his final bow against Australia at Johannesburg in 2018. AB was at his most prolific in ODIs, averageing 53.50 and striking at over run-a-ball for his 9,577 runs. However, he was equally capable of playing marathon knocks in red ball cricket, ending his career with 8,765 runs at over 50, including a brief stint as a wicket-keeper. But where de Villiers garnered most love was in the T20 circuit, scoring nearly 8,000 runs around the globe, 5,162 of which came in the Indian Premier League alone.
Neetu David became the second Indian woman to be inducted after Diana Edulji in 2023 and the 10th Indian overall on the list. The left-arm spinners played 10 Tests and 97 ODIs, claiming 182 wickets while averaging under 20 in both formats. The Railways player made her international debut when she was just a teenager and took retirement before she turned 30, albeit she reversed her decision two years later to appear in 18 more ODIs in 2008. David first shot to fame by running through England in her third Test, in Jamshedpur in November 1995, even though India succumbed to a narrow two-run defeat. A decade later, she replicated those heroics with the white ball to end as the highest wicket-taker at the 2005 World Cup where India ended as runners-up.
Alastair Cook, who until recently was England’s highest run-getter in Tests and the fifth highest of all-time with 12,472 at an average of 45.35, joins 32 other Englishmen in the Hall of Fame. A symbol of grit and determination for over a decade, the opener was mechanical but effective, adept at grinding his way to big tons and garnered a reputation as impossible to get out once settled in. Cook captained England in 59 Tests and won 24, both national records, while registering 33 centuries and 57 half-centuries. His career spanned from 2006 to 2018 and included 92 ODIs which were not his strongest suit, scoring 3,204 runs at under 40. The knighted veteran was still plying his trade in the County until 2023 for Essex.
