Famous Cricketers No 79 - Richard Hadlee

was selected for New Zealand’s 1969 tour of England, India and Pakistan, Richard was determined to gain selection for the next visit to England in four years time. While Richard would eventually follow both Barry and Dayle into the Canterbury side, Martin and Chris did not play first-class cricket. Martin, a talented player, concentrated on his accountancy studies and army training but he did play Brabin cricket for Canterbury. Chris, the youngest, enjoyed drawing and sketching and later qualified as an architect. In 1970 Hadlee made his first tour overseas with a Canterbury Colts side to Northern New South Wales and then later in the year went with Lancaster Park on a private tour of South-East Asia. Hadlee had joined Lancaster Park after leaving school instead of following the family tradition and playing for Old Boys. With Dayle and three other good seam bowlers available for Old Boys, Richard realised that if he wanted to play senior cricket and have the opportunity of bowling with the new ball, he would have to join another club. Thus, when he played for Lancaster Park against Old Boys there was some fierce family rivalry, notably when Richard and Dayle came into conflict. However, after five seasons with Lancaster Park, family ties proved too strong and Richard left to join his brothers and play for Old Boys. During his years in the Christchurch League (2-day matches), playing for both Lancaster Park and Old Boys, Richard appeared in 82 games and took 270 wickets at 13.07. In 1971/72 Hadlee made his first-class debut for Canterbury and went on to play 62 first-class games for the province. Despite international commitments, which restricted his appearances for the South Island side, he was Canterbury’s leading wicket-taker in first-class games (with 285 wickets) until Mark Priest surpassed this figure during the 1998/99 season. When Hadlee first played for Canterbury there were some experienced players in the side which must have been a great help to a young tearaway fast bowler. With Ken Wadsworth then joining the team for the 1972/73 season, Hadlee enjoyed good support behind the wicket. Later, Hadlee also greatly admired and was much helped by the leadership qualities of Maurice Ryan who took over as captain for the 1976/77 season and led the team for three years. And then there were Barry and Dayle! The great Test career of Sir Richard Hadlee has, of course, been well documented and is dealt with, as one would expect, in some detail in this book. One of the most interesting aspects of Hadlee’s career is the comparison in his Test figures between his first twenty Tests, when he was learning his trade as a Test bowler, covering the period from his debut in 1972/73 up to and including the 1977/78 Test series against England, and the rest of his career which embraces a further sixty-six Tests. During this first period, he took 76 wickets at 33.43 but thereafter he captured an amazing 355 wickets at a cost of just 19.91 each. What a contrast! Another interesting feature of his Test career is that his workload seemed to increase during his last five years in Test cricket. Against Australia at Adelaide in the 1987/88 series, he sent down 42 overs during Australia’s innings in extreme heat and on an unresponsive pitch. Then in the following Test at Melbourne he bowled 44 overs in the home side’s first innings and 75 in the match! On another occasion against Pakistan, on a dead pitch at Wellington in 1988/89, he delivered 54 overs in the tourists’ innings. However, these were not the only occasions when Hadlee bowled at least forty overs in an innings, but one might add that they did not go unrewarded! As well as all his achievements at the bowling crease, Hadlee became, with the advent of the helmet, a most capable No. 7 or 8 Test batsman and on many occasions New Zealand were indebted to him as he rescued his side from a difficult position. Thus, he more than merited his status as a world-class all-rounder and, scoring 3124 runs, he became the first New Zealand player to achieve the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test cricket. Given all that has been said, it comes as no surprise that during the Hadlee years New Zealand enjoyed their most successful time in Test cricket. Prior to Hadlee’s arrival on the Test scene, New Zealand had won just seven Test matches since their introduction to Test cricket in 1929/30. 6