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Cricket is the great international sport of the British Empire, with all of its Test playing countries being, or at one time being, British colonies.
Canada is the only one not to have embraced the greatest game of all.
If we look back in history we see that there are many cricketers who have been knighted by the Queens or Kings of England. A search of Cricinfo shows that there are 56 knighted cricketers.
The names in the list include most of the greatest cricketers of the past:
– Sir Donald Bradman (The Only Australian)
– Sir Len Hutton
– Sir Ian Botham
– Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (he did play cricket but I suspect he was knighted for some other reason)
– Sir Garfield Sobers
– Sir Vivian Richards
– Sir Richard Hadlee
The last cricketer to be knighted was either Hadlee or Botham, I’m not sure.
The point is there have been many great cricketers since these two, yet none of them have been knighted. Why?
Are today’s cricketers not good enough? Do some have questionable pasts or misdemeanours that rule them out? Does HRH Queen Elizabeth II not like the game?
A few names that I can think of who might be worthy are listed below. Some are still playing and may yet receive a knighthood after they retire.
Australia: Ricky Ponting, Glenn McGrath, Allan Border, Shane Warne
West Indies: Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh
South Africa: Jacques Kallis
India: Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble
Sri Lanka: Muttiah Muralitharan
Pakistan: Imran Khan
Can you think of any others?
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