Dubai, Jan 2 : ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat today announced the formation of the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, in association with the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA), as part of the ICC's centenary year celebrations.

Speaking in Sydney on Friday at the launch of those celebrations, Lorgat said the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame would provide the chance for the game to recognise its greatest achievers.

"Given a key theme of the ICC's centenary year is celebrating the game's heritage then the foundation of the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame is an entirely logical step," he said.

"It will provide a means of recognising the historical contribution of past players, officials and even institutions in making cricket what it is today, a great sport with a great spirit.

"The ICC has already worked with FICA through the LG ICC Awards and looks forward to this new collaboration which will help to ensure the success of this outstanding project," added Lorgat.

The initial intake of inductees are the 55 players* named in the FICA Hall of Fame, which ran between 1999 and 2003, and their career statistics and biographies can be found at the new ICC centenary website, also launched today, at www. catchthespirit. com.

This will be supplemented by a select group of inductions each year, starting in 2009 when the newcomers will be announced during the LG ICC Awards ceremony.

The initial inductees (or, in the case of those who have passed away, their relatives) will be presented with a commemorative ICC Cricket Hall of Fame cap at an appropriate stage during the ICC centenary year.

And those living members of the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame will also have the chance to help choose new inductees, part of an inclusive selection process.

Lorgat said: "We have studied numerous halls of fame in other sports to see what works and what doesn't and how best we can achieve our goal, to recognise the game's greatest achievers.

"We want to ensure that as many of the game's stakeholders as possible, including current ICC Cricket Hall of Famers and members of the public, get the chance to have their say in the process of choosing the game's true legends," he added.

FICA Chief Executive Tim May said that he was delighted that FICA and the ICC had agreed to invigorate the FICA Hall of Fame concept and enter a joint venture to launch a fresh Hall of Fame, to be known as the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in association with FICA.

ICC Cricket Hall of Fame - initial inductees (55): Sydney Barnes, Bishan Bedi, Alec Bedser, Richie Benaud, Allan Border, Ian Botham, Geoffrey Boycott, Donald Bradman, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Denis Compton, Colin Cowdrey, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Lance Gibbs, Graham Gooch, David Gower, WG Grace, Tom Graveney, Gordon Greenidge, Richard Hadlee, Walter Hammond, Neil Harvey, George Headley, Jack Hobbs, Michael Holding, Leonard Hutton, Rohan Kanhai, Imran Khan, Alan Knott, Jim Laker, Harold Larwood, Dennis Lillee, Ray Lindwall, Clive Lloyd, Hanif Mohammad, Rodney Marsh, Malcolm Marshall, Peter May, Javed Miandad, Keith Miller, Bill O'Reilly, Graeme Pollock, Wilfred Rhodes, Barry Richards, Vivian Richards, Andy Roberts, Garfield Sobers, Brian Statham, Fred Trueman, Derek Underwood, Clyde Walcott, Everton Weekes, Frank Woolley, Frank Worrell. (ANI)