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Richard Hadlee is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers in the history of cricket. He is often described as the “most intelligent fast bowler ever”. Known for his mastery in swing, he is hailed as the greatest exponent of bowling with the new ball.
Hadlee was treated as one of the finest bowlers of his time which had the likes of Dennis Lillee, Imran Khan, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Kapil Dev, Ian Botham, Wasim Akram and Malcolm Marshall as contemporaries.
The Kiwi pacer had the substantial ability to swing ball both ways and prodigious movement from the pitch. His consistency, accuracy, control and precision made him a formidable bowler on all types of surfaces.
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Richard Hadlee: A Look At Numbers
In his cricketing career spanning from 1973 to 1990, Hadlee earned the title of “Swing King of New Zealand” apart from several other accolades. He was the one-man army in the New Zealand bowling attack of that time.
Richard Hadlee made his Test debut on 2 February 1973 against Pakistan and ended up playing 86 matches in the red-ball format. He took 431 wickets in his Test career and became the first bowler to reach 400 Test wickets, a monumental milestone of that time. He retired as the bowler with the most test wickets at that time.
The prolific bowler took 36 five-wicket hauls and nine 10-wicket hauls, both of which are the most for a fast bowler. In Tests, he is the bowler with the third most fifers and 10-fers.
Richard Hadlee has anchored New Zealand to several memorable victories, including a historic win against Australia in 1985-86 in Test series.
In 1990, he became the first ever cricketer to achieve the feat of the double of 3000 runs and 400 wickets in Tests. Only Shane Warne, Shaun Pollock and Kapil Dev have joined the club till date.
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The Kiwi had a decent ODI career. He took 158 wickets in 115 ODIs at an average of 21.56 and at an economy of just 3.34 including five fifers.
Richard Hadlee is also regarded as the greatest cricketer ever to have played for Nottinghamshire in the Counties. He took 622 wickets in 148 matches at an average of 15.51 for Nottinghamshire.
In December 2002, Hadlee was chosen by Wisden as the second greatest Test bowler of all time. In 1990, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his contributions to cricket. He was appointed MBE for services to New Zealand sport in 1980.
