On the 70th birthday of the legend, let's look at some of his incredible achievements.
Described as 'The most intelligent fast bowler ever' by many, he's an absolute legend of the game. Initially a tearaway fast bowler, he later added various skills to his armoury. At the peak and for the most part of his career, he used to pick wickets for fun.
He had good height and used it to perfection. He was almost a lone warrior in the New Zealand bowling attack and had to work all for himself. His batting improved with age and experience. He became one of the best all-rounders of his time.
First ever to reach 400 test wickets
In Christchurch test in 1990 against India, he got rid off Sanjay Manjrekar to claim his 400th test wicket. He became the first ever bowler in the history of test cricket to do so. He retired as the bowler with the most test wickets (431) at that time.
Most 5 & 10 wicket hauls for a pacer
He took 5 wickets in an inning for a record 36 times and 10 wickets in a test on 9 occasions, both of which are the most for a fast bowler. He has the third most fifers and 10-fers for a bowler in tests.
Image courtesy - Forbes India.
Impactful bowler
He played 86 tests for New Zealand, out of which 22 were won. In those tests, he took 173 wickets at an average of just 13.06 including 17 fifers and eight 10 wicket hauls. He has a strike rate of 33.50, which is the third highest for a bowler with over 100 wickets in winning cause.
Halting the domination
West Indies had a great team during the 1970s and 1980s. New Zealand stopped their dominance for a while in 1980, when they beat WI 1-0 (3) at home in a test series. Hadlee took 19 wickets in 3 tests at an average of 19.00 and at a strike rate of 51.0 including two fifers and a 10 wicket haul. He also scored 178 runs at an average of 44.50 including a hundred against a bowling attack of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft.
Architect of away series wins
New Zealand won test series in Sri Lanka, England, and Australia. Hadlee played the key role in all those series wins.
NEW ZEALAND TOUR OF SRI LANKA 1984
New Zealand won the series 2-0 (3) where Hadlee took 23 wickets in 3 tests at an average of 10.00 and at a strike rate of 30.7 including two fifers and a 10 wicket haul.
NEW ZEALAND TOUR OF AUSTRALIA 1985/86
Probably New Zealand's greatest test series victory ever. They beat Australia 2-1(3). Hadlee took 33 wickets in 3 tests at an average of 12.15 and at a strike rate of 30.8 including 5 fifers and two 10 wicket hauls. He also scored 111 runs including a fifty.
Image courtesy - Cricket.com.au.
NEW ZEALAND TOUR OF ENGLAND 1986
New Zealand won the series 1-0(3) where Hadlee took 19 wickets in 3 tests at an average of 20.52 and at a strike rate of 48.5 including two fifers and a 10 wicket haul.
Double of 3000 runs and 400 wickets
In 1990, he became the first ever cricketer to complete the double of 3000 runs and 400 wickets in tests. Only Kapil Dev, Shaun Pollock, and Shane Warne have joined the club till date.
Good ODI career
He had a very good ODI career too, though a short one. He took 158 wickets in 115 Odis at an average of 21.56 and at an economy of just 3.34 including 5 fifers. He also scored 1751 runs including 4 fifties.
Nottinghamshire's greatest player
He played for Nottinghamshire in the Counties. In 148 matches, he took 622 wickets at an average of 14.51. He also scored 5854 runs at an average of 38.76 including 11 hundreds. In May 2020, the fans voted him to be the greatest player ever to have played for Nottinghamshire.
