Born on 3 July, 1951, it would be fair to say that Sir Richard Hadlee literally carried the entire New Zealand bowling on his shoulders. His retirement in 1990 left New Zealand short of a genuine match winner who had taken the small cricketing country to unprecedented levels of high in the longer form of the game, something that was a mere dream until then for the small brothers of Australia.

Hadlee was one of the 5 sons of Walter Hadlee and cricket was already in his blood. Drafted into the game at an early age, he debuted as a tear away quick and formed a good pair with his brother Daryll Hadlee during the 1971-72 season for Canterbury. With experience, Hadlee cut down on the speed and instead troubled batsmen with his whippy sideways bowling action. He could obtain life from the most docile of surfaces. The batsmen could never feel at home against a man who could generate disconcerting pace, bounce and movement off the surface.

Hadlee debuted against Pakistan in Wellington in 1973 but it was not until 1976 that the world came to notice of his supreme skills. India was his first victims, blitzed in a spell of 7/23. It was just the beginning of a long and illustrious career in which Sir Richard Hadlee became the first ever bowler to scalp 400 Test wickets.

In an illustrious test career, Hadlee reserved his best for arch rivals Australia scalping 130 wickets from 23 Test matches. It included figures of 15/ 123 at the Gabba giving New Zealand a famous victory. Hadlee was a part of 22 Kiwi victories and his role in those wins were outstanding, a rich haul of 173 wickets at an average of 13.06. Hadlee ended his test career by taking 5 wickets in his final bowling performance, and taking a wicket with the final ball of his test career.

Hadlee received his knighthood shortly after his retirement from the game in 1990. Hadlee ended a glittering Test career with 431 wickets from just 86 Tests and was the highest wicket taker for a long period of time before another great all-rounder, Kapil Dev overtook him. It must be said that Hadlee was one of the four best all-rounders during his time. The others being Kapil Dev, Sir Ian Botham and Imran Khan.

Hadlee played county cricket for Nottinghamshire and it was just fitting that he ended his international career at his adopted home in Trent Bridge. The north stand of the AMI stadium in Christchurch is named after the Hadlee brothers while Australia and New Zealand play an annual ODI contest named as the Chappell-Hadlee cup.

Hadlee has served as a media expert since his retirement and also had a stint as chairman of the national selection panel. Sir Richard Hadlee was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009 and has also been awarded a honorary doctorate by the Nottingham University.

By Pradeep Krishnamurthy