Dubai: Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralidaran, along with three others, will be inducted into the International Cricket Council's Hall of Fame later this year.
"The International Cricket Council today announced that Muttiah Muralidaran, Karen Rolton, Arthur Morris and George Lohmann will be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame later this year," the ICC said in a statement.
Record-breaking off-spinner Muralidaran becomes the first Sri Lankan player to be inducted along with twice ICC Women's World Cup winner and former Australia captain Karen Rolton, her compatriot Arthur Morris, a member of Don Bradman's 'invincibles' and England's George Lohmann, the 19th century fast bowler who took 100 wickets in just 16 Tests.
The four iconic cricketers were voted by the ICC Cricket Hall of Famers as well as members of the media. They will be presented with commemorative caps honouring their contribution to the game to mark their induction. Family members will represent Lohmann and Morris at the presentations.
ICC Chief Executive David Richardson congratulated the four, saying: "The ICC Cricket Hall of Fame recognises some of the truly great players from cricket's long and illustrious history, and this year's inductees thoroughly deserve to be in this highly prestigious group.
"Muralidaran has been one of the greats of the modern era. His guile and consistency over the years helped Sri Lanka develop as a very competitive side in both Tests and ODI cricket.
"We have in the list some very famous names of different eras. Lohmann and Morris were outstanding performers during their times and are part of cricket folk-lore, while Rolton's performances have been recent and came during an era when women's cricket became very competitive."
Muralidaran, whose last international fixture was the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in Mumbai finished his career with 800 wickets in Tests, 534 wicket in One-Day Internationals and 13 wickets in 12 T20Is.
Lohmann, an exponent of swing bowling in the late 19th century and rated by his contemporaries as the most difficult opponent, will be the 27th Englishman in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame list. He raced to 100 Test wickets in 16 matches but tuberculosis shortened his career and he died at the age of 36 in 1901.
In an 18-Test career from 1886 to 1896, Lohmann took 112 wickets, including nine for 28 against South Africa at the Old Wanderers, and also scored 213 runs.
Morris, a stylish left-hander of the 1940s and 50s who scored 12 centuries and 12 fifties in 46 Tests between 1946 and 1955, will be the 22nd Australia cricketer in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. Morris scored a total of 12,614 runs in 162 first-class matches, including 3,533 runs in Tests.
Rolton, a dynamic all-rounder in both Tests and ODIs who is best remembered for her match-winning century in the ICC Women's World Cup 2005 final, will be only the sixth woman and the third Australian to get onto the coveted list.
In a 14-year international career from 1997 to 2009, Rolton played 14 Tests and 141 One-Day Internationals, scoring 1,002 and 4,814 runs respectively.