Published: Jul 03, 2016, 08:57 AM (IST)
Edited: Jul 03, 2016, 10:05 AM (IST)
Born July 3, 1951, in St Albans, Christchurch, Richard Hadlee turns 65 today. One of New Zealand’s finest cricketers, Hadlee was a right-arm fast bowler and a left-handed batsman. He was also known for his hard-hitting skills with the bat as well. He had played a huge role to take New Zealand to great success in Tests during his career. After his retirement in 1990, at the age of 39 he soon became a cricket expert and commentator, but always came to be known among the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He bowled at a tremendous pace and therefore was lethal on pitches that had bounce and swing on offer. READ: Richard Hadlee: A phenomenon in the pantheon of the greats
Hadlee made his Test debut for New Zealand in February 1973 against Pakistan at Wellington. He had 431 wickets to his name in the format and was also the first bowler to reach the 400-wicket mark in Tests. His best figures were 9-52. His average was 22.29. His economy rate was 2.63. He had a massive 36 five-wicket hauls to his name and 9 10-wicket hauls as well. He also had 2 hundreds and 15 half-centuries in Tests. In One Day Internationals (ODIs), Hadlee had 158 wickets. He made his ODI debut in 1973, against Pakistan at Christchurch.
In First-class cricket Hadlee had 1,490 wickets in 342 games which just tells what kind of an impact bowler he was. His control, speed and intelligence was for all to watch. Hadlee played for Canterbury in New Zealand and in the English County he played for Nottinghamshire. He was inducted in the ICC Cricket Hall of fame in the year 2009.
