Harbhajan, Srinath get MCC's honorary life membership

LONDON, Former India cricketers Harbhajan Singh and Javagal Srinath are among 18 players who were given honorary life membership by the Marylebone Cricket Club here on Tuesday.

Harbhajan is India's third-highest wicket-taker in Tests, with 417 dismissals in 103 Tests, while Srinath is one of country's greatest ODI players, taking 315 wickets to end his career as India's second-highest wicket-taker in ODIs.

England cricketers Alastair Cook, Marcus Trescothick and Ian Bell too were conferred honorary life memberships on Tuesday, along with wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor, who, at 32, came out of retirement this season to play for Northern Diamonds in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint and Charlotte Edwards Cups, besides competing in The Hundred for Welsh Fire.

Four South African cricketers have also been awarded the honorary life membership, with Hashim Amla, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis and Morne Morkel all receiving the honour. Kallis's 13,289 Test runs puts him third on the all-time run-scoring list.

Alex Blackwell and Damien Martyn of Australia were also included. All-rounder Blackwell won over 250 caps for her country across all formats of the games, and batter Martyn scored almost 10,000 international runs.

West Indies's Ian Bishop, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan also received the honours on Tuesday. Bishop took 161 wickets in just 43 matches, while Chanderpaul is West Indies' most capped Test player (164) and only seven players have scored more than his 11,867 runs. Sarwan racked up 15 Test centuries, and his 291 against England in 2009 equalled the highest individual score by a West Indian.

Rangana Herath of Sri Lanka took 433 Test wickets in a career spanning almost two decades, and features in the top ten of all time Test wicket-takers.

Sara McGlashan is the sole New Zealander on the list, appearing over 200 times for the White Ferns over the course of a 14-year career and Zimbabwean allrounder Grant Flower has been recognised for his 10,000 international runs in 288 matches, completing a list that celebrates some of the greatest cricketing talent to grace the international arena.

"We are absolutely thrilled to be able to welcome our newest Honorary Life Members of MCC. The cricketers announced today are among the greatest international players of their generation," Guy Lavender, chief executive & secretary of MCC, said in a statement. IANS

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