Former players, captains to be honoured on 100th Test

Former England and India captains and players will be presented specially made commemorative cap by the ECB and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chiefs Giles Clarke and Shashank Manohar at an on field ceremony to be held during the lunch interval on day four of the match on Sunday.

This will be followed by a parade of past players which includes former captains of both countries such as Sir Ian Botham, Bob Willis, Nasser Hussain, Ravi Shastri and Sourav Ganguly.

The formal celebration will though start tomorrow with Clarke and Manohar exchanging gifts at the time of the toss.

"India and England complete a century of Test matches on 21 July 2011. It is a momentous occasion, and I join cricket-lovers in both countries, in hailing all the players and administrators, who have enlivened the India-England cricketing rivalry over the decades," BCCI Secretary and president-elect N Srinivasan said.

"Test matches between India and England have been keenly fought over the years, and we are poised to witness an exciting series," he said.

ECB chief executive David Collier said, "We are very keen to make the 100th Test Match a great occasion for everyone and give spectators an opportunity to pay tribute to those players whose performances have graced previous contests between the two countries.

"We are grateful to BCCI and the MCC for their co-operation in staging this series of presentations and look forward to an exciting and close-fought npower Test Match which will showcase the five-day game at its very best."

India and England played their first ever Test match in June 1932.