Cricket's Hall of Fame welcomes five new members

The FICA PricewaterhouseCoopers International Cricket Awards Dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel on 3rd July 2000 saw the induction of five new members to cricket's Hall of Fame.

The five, selected by an international panel of players, journalists and administrators are:

Ian Chappell, the inspirational Australian captain and top order batsman. He scored 5345 test runs at an average of 42.42 with a highest score of 196.

Graham Gooch, former England captain and opening batsman. He scored 8900 test runs at an average of 42.58 with a highest score of 333.

Wilfred Rhodes, Yorkshire and England all rounder around the turn of the century. Primarily a slow left arm bowler whose batting developed from being a number 11 to opening the innings for England with Jack Hobbs. In 58 test matches he took 127 wickets at an average of 26.96 with a best bowling performance of 8 for 68. He also scored 2325 runs at an average of 30.19 with a highest score of 179.

Andy Roberts, the explosive West Indian fast bowler in 1970's and 80's. In 47 Test matches he took 202 wickets at an average of 25.61 with a best bowling performance of 7 for 54. In addition he took 87 one-day international wickets at 20.35.

Frank Woolley, of Kent and England. Between 1906 and 1938 he scored 58,969 first class runs (second only to Jack Hobbs) including 145 centuries at an average of 40.75. He also took 2068 wickets at an average of 19.85 and took a record 1,015 catches.

Engraved Waterford Crystal trophies were presented to each new member.

Many of the leading figures in world cricket attended to pay tribute to the five who join the original list of 50.

Special after dinner guests included Ian Botham and Viv Richards.

FICA, (The Federation of International Cricketers Associations) was formed to co-ordinate the activities of all national players associations, which protects the interests of professional cricketers throughout the world.

The FICA Hall of Fame was created in response to a huge number of requests from cricketers and cricket followers for some way of honouring the memorable contributions many individuals have made to the game. Other major sports have similar forms of acknowledgement and it seemed appropriate for FICA to take the lead in paying tribute to the legends of world cricket.

The FICA Hall of Fame was launched on 9th April 1999.