Janette Brittin was one of these, recognised for her 19 years of service playing for England and aiding the development of women's cricket between 1979 and 1998 and was posthumously inducted.

Joining her is Mahela Jayawardena, who retired as one of Sri Lanka's greatest-ever players and as a member of the winning team at the 2014 Men's T20 World Cup.

He also reached four other major ICC finals.

Finally, South African Shaun Pollock was inducted as one of the best bowling all-rounders in the game, having become the first to achieve 3,000 runs and 300 wickets in both Test and one-day international (ODI) cricket.

"The ICC Cricket Hall of Fame is our way of honouring and celebrating the greats of our game," said ICC acting chief executive Geoff Allardice.

"Only the very best players are recognised for their contribution to cricket in this way. 

"I would like to congratulate Mahela and Shaun on their induction into this illustrious group and it is a wonderful way to commemorate Janette's life and career."

Brittin made her Test debut against West Indies in 1979 at the age of 19 and scored her maiden ODI century against an international XI in New Zealand in 1982.

She won the World Cup with England in 1993 by hitting the most runs and making the winning catch.

In 27 Test matches, she recorded a record 1,935 runs and 2,121 runs in 63 ODIs.

Jayawardena scored 1,493 runs in 55 T20 internationals and a total of 374 runs in a single match against South Africa in 2006, which is the fourth-highest on the all-time list.

He scored 11,814 Test runs at an average of 50.05 and 12,650 one-day runs from 448 ODIs.

After his playing career, the Sri Lankan led the Mumbai Indians to three Indian Premier League titles.

Pollock played in 303 ODIs, scoring 3,519 runs and taking 393 wickets.

In 108 Tests, he scored 3,781 runs and took 421 wickets.