Richard HADLEE

Richard Hadlee, whose father Walter captained New Zealand after World War Two, was a right arm fast bowler and aggressive left-handed bat who followed his elder brother Dayle into the Test side in 1973. A third brother, Barry, joined them in the side for the 1975 World Cup. In his early days Richard was a tearaway fast bowler with an action that was all arms and legs, but after joining Nottinghamshire in 1978 he cut down his run and introduced variations of seam, swing and cut, all at a fast pace. As an exponent of fast and fast medium bowling only Dennis Lillee was his equal. He made his debut against Pakistan at Wellington in February 1973, scoring 46 and taking 2-84, but he was by no means a regular in the side.

However, his increasing maturity had much to do with New Zealand's first successes on the international scene. He took seven wickets in the Christchurch Test when Australia were beaten for the first time, and 4-74 and 6-26 in Wellington in 1977-78 when England succumbed for the first time. In 1979-80 he took 5-34 and 6-86 against West Indies in Dunedin and New Zealand won by one wicket. He scored 103 in Christchurch in the same series. In England in 1983 he took 6-53 at the Oval, 5-93 at Lord's and scored 92 not out in front of his home county crowd at Trent Bridge. In the 1975 World Cup he bowled 12 overs for 10 against East Africa, and in 1979 throughout the tournament bowled 45 overs conceding just 117 runs. In 1983 he took 5-25 against Sri Lanka in Bristol and made 97 against England at the Oval. (Bob Harragan)

New Zealand captains through the 1980s knew that Hadlee, their only world class player, was their greatest asset. Fortunately for them he was willing to bowl all day and the Kiwi strategy was generally to bowl for an hour after each interval, picking up two or three wickets each time, while the likes of Ewen Chatfield stopped batsmen scoring at the other end. This was a man who not only took 3-16 and 5-28 but also scored 99 as England were beaten by an innings in Christchurch in 1984. He took 9-52 and 6-71 and also scored 52 as Australia were beaten by an innings in Brisbane the following season. He also returned figures of 5-65 and 6-90 as New Zealand won again, this time in Perth, in the same series. In England in 1986 he took 6-80 at Lord's, 6-80 again and 4-60 at Trent Bridge when he also scored 68, 6-50 and 3-101 as West Indies were beaten in Christchurch.

In 1990 he scored 86 at Lord's and took three wickets in each innings at Edgbaston. On his final tour, to England in 1990, Hadlee was given a knighthood and appeared on the Lord's scoreboard as Sir. R. Hadlee. By then he had become the first man to pass 400 Test wickets, a feat he achieved against India in Christchurch in February 1990. At the end of his career Hadlee was lauded as 'the greatest cricketer ever to represent New Zealand, ' a summation with which few would disagree. Ironically, after thousands of overs and a reputation as the fittest man in cricket, on his retirement he was found to have severe heart problems. (Bob Harragan)