Ponting, Rolton and O’Neill inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame

Ponting, Rolton and O’Neill inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame

Ponting is the most capped Australia cricketer in both Tests and ODIs. © AFP

Ricky Ponting, the former Australia captain, Karen Rolton, the former Australia women’s captain, and Norm O’Neill, the batsman who played 42 Test matches, have become the latest inductees into the Australian Cricket Hall of fame.

Peter King, the chairman of Australian Hall of Fame, announced on Saturday (February 10) that the three would be formally inducted – taking the overall tally to 49 – at the Allan Border Medal function in Sydney on Monday.

Ponting, the most capped Australian Test and One-Day International player, is the leading run-scorer of the side in both the formats. He amassed 13,378 runs in 168 Tests at an outstanding 51.85 with 41 centuries, while in ODIs, he scored 13,704 runs in 375 matches at 42.03 with 30 centuries.

He also captained Australia a record 324 times during his 17-year-long international career across formats, and led them to back-to-back World Cup titles in 2003 and 2007. He is also the only player to be involved in 100 Test victories.

“Ricky Ponting is unquestionably one of the finest Test and one-day cricketers Australia has produced,” said King. “An exceptional fieldsman, he has an outstanding record as a top-order batsman and captain, and was a key figure during a highly successful era in Australian cricket. That only he and Sachin Tendulkar have scored more than 13,000 runs in both Test and one-day cricket speaks volumes of his place in the game’s history.”

Rolton, who was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2016, was an integral part of the Australian set-up as women’s cricket became a dominant force in Australia. Making her international debut in 1995, she played 14 Tests scoring 1,002 runs at 55.66, including two centuries. She also took 14 wicket at 23.35.

She was also a part of two World Cup victories, in 1997 and 2005, when she even became the only woman to score a century in a World Cup final, against India in Centurion. She even led Australia from 2007 to 2009.

Rolton was also chosen as the ICC’s inaugural Women’s Player of the Year in 2006, and finished her international career as the leading run-getter in Tests for Australia Women (1002) and fourth on the list of overall run-scorers in ODIs (4814).

“Karen Rolton was a dominant left-hander who rightly takes her place in the top echelon of women’s cricket,” said King. “A former captain, she remains Australia’s leading female Test run-scorer and sits alongside Belinda Clark on the list of one-day cricket run scorers. Karen’s ability to score quickly and make big scores during her 15-year career played a major part in many of Australia’s triumphs on the international stage.”

O’Neill made his international debut for Australia aged 21 and went on to score 2,779 runs in a career spanned seven years between 1958 and 1965. The highlight of his career remains the 181 he scored in Australia’s first innings of the Tied Test against West Indies in 1960. He was named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1962.