Warne in Oz cricket Hall of Fame, Clarke set for AB Medal

Melbourne: Spin legend Shane Warne will be inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame at the annual Allan Border Medal ceremony, where current skipper Michael Clarke is expected to make a clean-sweep of the top honours on Monday night.

Hall of Fame chairman David Crow said the 42-year-old`s contribution to cricket had been huge. "He revived leg-spin, combining accuracy with variety and enormous turn, even on unhelpful pitches," Crow said in a statement. "It was the timing of his performances in addition to his sheer weight of wickets that further underlined his legendary status," he added. Warne`s Test record boasts of 708 wickets from 145 matches and places him second on the all-time list. "To be mentioned in the same breath as some of those cricketers who have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and to be inducted so soon after my international retirement, is a great privilege," Warne said. At the awards this year, Clarke is the favourite to win his third Allan Border Medal and is also tipped to walk away with the Test player of the year and the one-day player trophies. Clarke has been in phenomenal Test form scoring 1167 runs at an average of 69, which included five centuries during the voting period startring February last year. He also topped Australia`s one-day scoring with 871 runs at an average of 62 during this time. But Warne said no one is a certainty for this year`s award. "It`s a tough one, there`s been so many players that have done wonderfully well over the past twelve months," he said. The former Australian vice-captain, however, named Clarke as one of his personal favourites for the top honours. "I think Peter Siddle is going to be up there, I think Michael Clarke will be up there," he said. "I think this year`s been more open than any other year, I think there`s a lot of people out there who could probably win it." Warne is expected to attend the Allan Border Medal held at Melbourne`s Crown Casino. PTI