365 Days Cricket - Sir Richard Hadlee

365 Days Cricket - Richard Hadlee

Richard John Hadlee is the best New Zealand bowler ever, undoubtedly. He has strong claims to being considered one of the planet’s all-time greats. Richard Hadlee’s main claim to popularity was his fast bowling. He was a incredibly accurate bowler, apparently capable to direct deliveries wherever he desired. For batsmen he was a nightmare simply because he could bowl fast, but also make the ball deviate drastically once it hit the top of wicket.

No question he became the first bowler in the history of cricket to take more than 400 test wickets. In case you add Richard Hadlee’s batting skill - he scored over 3,000 runs in 86 test matches - you will see why in his pomp he was ranked by many as the world’s greatest cricketer. Richard Hadlee emerged at a time when cricket was blessed with excellent all round cricketers like Imran Khan, Ian Botham and Kapil Dev. He wasn’t as natural a talent as the others but he made up for it with effort and enormous dedication.

Actually, he reached the high watermark of his career in his last 5 years as being a cricketer. Richard Hadlee retired in 1990 and was, such as Gary Sobers and Donald Bradman, knighted by the Queen.