December 7, 2024 • 10 mins
New Zealand Cricket has revealed their first 11 Hall of Fame inductees for significant contributions to the sport.
Sir Richard Hadlee was among the influential 11 players who made the shortlist compiled by cricket historians and experts.
He joined Piney to discuss the honour.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Fine
from Newstalk zed B.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Richard Hadley was unveiled as one of the first eleven
inductees into New Zealand Crickets Hall of Fame. After that
induction ceremony on Thursday night, I had the chance to
speak with Sir Richard Hadley. Sir Richard Hadley, it.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Seems to me as though when they were putting together
the inaugural inductees, your name was going to be near
the top of the list. How do you reflect on
your cricket career and it's totality first of all, when
you think back to those many great moments.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Oh, look, I had a wonderful time in the game
of cricket in an eighteen year international career, a twenty
year first class career.
Speaker 5 (00:46):
Very proud of what I've been able.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
To achieve a lot of significant milestones personally.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
But collectively as a team too.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Played in an era in the seventies and eighties when
we were doing many firsts in the.
Speaker 5 (00:59):
History of New Zealand cricket.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
When you beat Australia for the first time as we
did at Lancaster Partment seventy four, beating England for the
first time at the base in Reserve and Wellington and
seventy eight, and then we had significant first victories offshore,
beating England in eighty three at Headingly, and then we
had won the series there in eighty six and beating
(01:21):
Australia and Australia for the first time in eighty five
six the Gabattez went on to take the series to win.
So those significant firsts will always outweigh personal milestones, and
people tend to remember when you'd done things for the
first time. But as far as runs and wickets, we're
concerned if you play the games and you bowl the
(01:41):
balls and you're going to get wickets. If you're out
there batting, you're going to accumulate runs. And in my
career accumulated a lot of runs and a lot of wickets,
and I can look back with fond memories and great
pride of what I was able to achieve. On an
individual basis, we.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Talk about some of those performances that I went over
England out here for the first time nineteen seventy eight.
You know, Richard Collins obviously not to have a Jeff
Boy but then you did the damage with six for
twenty six. Where does that particular test rate beating England?
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Well, it was significant in fact, Richard Collins, we needed
a miracle basically because we got bowled out cheaply in
the second innings in the England and you need one
hundred and thirty seven to win, and we were walking
down the steps onto the field to play and we're.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
Being booed at. We're being jeered a bit.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Because the spectators are saying, well, you're blowing again. He's
in and you put yourself in a position of winning
and you've just let the opposition back in the game.
And I remember saying to Richard Collins, look, Rock, we
need something sensational to happen. Well, the thing that was
sensational was Boycott being knocked over for a duck and so.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
They were one for none and Rock picked up the.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
First three wickets so they were three for not many
and I hit Brian Rose on the elbow and he
decided to use his elbow to hit the ball and
so I had to retire hurt, probably with the broke
and broken arm. So effectively they were four or five
down for eighteen and Rock had done the damage and
then I was able to come in on the back
(03:15):
of it to pick up the next sort of four wickets.
We had to come back the next day to mop
up the tail, which took about thirty forty minutes or something,
so I ended up with six.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
But the thing that.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Was quite emotional for me is that my father had
been involved with New Zealand creget since nineteen thirty seven
when he were on the first tur of England, took
the forty nine team to England as captain, and then
he was a board member and president of New Zealand
Cricket and over the years he had never seen New
Zealand beat England. And it took something like forty eight
(03:52):
years from our first test in nineteen thirty forty eight
tests to seventy eight to win that first game against
England and probably involved fifty tests that we had played
against them other nation. So be able to do it
not only for myself the team, but to fulfill an
ambition dream for him made it even more significant.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
And what about wick and number three hundred out here
I sat on the bank patiently waiting for it to arrive,
and I think it was in the middle of the
middle session from memory that you finally got Alan border lbw.
Fred Goodall got his finger up. I think it's still up. Yeah,
what do you remember of that day?
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Well, going into that Test, I think I needed one
wicket to get to three hundred, and there's a lot
of people wagering bets as to how many balls it
would take, how long it would be, media speculation, you know,
creating a lot of interest basically, and obviously I was
(04:51):
hoping to do it in the first spell, get it
over and done with.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
The players were aware of it.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
All they wanted was for me to get it out
of the way so we can get on with the game.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
So mid afternoon something.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Like that, Fred Goodll had his finger up befo or
even appealed that was that dead. And so when you
reach milestones like that, you're knocking off sort of targets
or goals that you have. Because when I got that
three hundred test, Wig, I was one of six now
to have got those those wickets. I was in an
(05:26):
elite group of bowlers in the history of the game.
But I had to knock off five who were still
in front of me. So over a period of years,
another four or five years. You knock them off one
at a time and you get past in both in
which I did in India twelfth and over nineteen eighty eight.
Aaron Lale LBW remember it well. So that got me
(05:50):
past them both and get the three seventy four and
then there's only one goal left to keep me in
the game, and that was to get to four hundred.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
Me the first to do that, and that was my Everest.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
And it took me eighteen years to conquer my Everest.
I'm not sure how long it took Sareed Hillary to
conquer Everest. Who he might have taken, I don't know.
Was it a week, ten days, two weeks, I don't know.
It took me eighteen years to get to the top
and then slither down the other side with retirement.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
So now they would magic ties.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
And I must ask you about the gabb nine for
fifty two. I think I could probably recite the commentary
of all nine wickets, and in fact the tenth one
Jeff Lawson caught by yourself off Vaughan Brown, might have
been his only test wigetvarn Brown. You know, yeah, another
very special Test match, Richard.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Well, it was as far as the nine wickets, we're concerned.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
I had eight. I had eight in a row.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Then I took the catch to give Vaughan Brown his
first Test wicket, and people off and ass when the
ball went up in the air when Jeff laws And
swept it, and I think I was feeling at mid
mid island. I had to do ten twenty meters to
catch it around mid wicket. People said you think of
dropping it, and I said, na, what do you do
the ball goes up in the air, of course you
(07:09):
catch it, So that thought never entered my mind.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
So that happened.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Then I came back and got the last to make
it ten and fortunate to get six wickets in the
second innings. Had to work hard for that border of
Matthew's got hundreds in that second innings, so it was
quite a lot more harder to get wickets in the
second innings in the first, but obviously that set up
a good chance of victory. When we bowled them out
(07:37):
for I won sixty one seventy and then we piled
on something like five hundred Martin Crow one hundred and
eighty eight, John Reid one hundred as well, so we
had a significant lead and we had plenty of time
to bowl them out and ended up winning by an
innings and I think forty four runs to knock it
off in Australia for the first time. The Aussies went
(07:59):
talking two months that's we're sure and we were enjoying
the moment. It was a magical moment. Lost at Sydney
and then Perth to take the series.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Just to finish the stats mentioned about the relative infrequency
of New Zealand Test wins up till when you got
your first one, and the number that you were involved
in twenty two I think was the number of Test
victories you played a part and then often a significant part.
Was that something that you were also very keen to
do to drive New Zealand to victories through your own performances.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Well, my job simply with a new ball is to
get wickets, early wickets and being really the only out
and out strike bowler. We had good medium pace bowlers,
but as an attacking bowler was always having three slips
in a gully. I'm always going to get the new
ball and I'm going to bowl just before lunch, and
(08:53):
I'm going to bowl just after lunch, before t after tea.
When the second new ball comes, I get that the
bowl at nine, ten eleven, right, So I was always
having greater opportunities than other bowlers who really implemented me
at the other end by keeping it tight.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
And sure they'd get wickets as well, no question about that.
But everyone's got a.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Role in the team to play, and I always saw
myself as the aggressor the attacker, stamping my presence on
the ground in front of batsmen, that sort of thing.
And when you think about it, it's always the bowler
who dictates play. He dictates play wherever he pitches the
(09:37):
ball affects an outcome where the runs are scored. The
batsman lets the ball go, he plays and miss gets
it on the pad. The bowler always dictates play and
the batsman has to have a response to that. Now
that's not to say the bowler always dominates, because batsmen
also dominate, and they could score hundreds, two hundreds and
(09:59):
three hundreds. So my mentality was to accept the responsibility attack,
try and get wickets, and and the guys in a
supporting role with particularly in catching behind the wicket, were
hugely significant in the successes I had because if you're
catching at ninety ninety five percent. You're going to win
games and bowlers are going to get wickets. But if
(10:21):
you're dropping eight catches at in inns, dare I say it,
you're always behind the game. So collectively we all had
roles minus the bowl and get wickets. Others were to
do whatever they had to do, but fielding was vital
in the successes that I had.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Four hundred and thirty one of them, so many significant moments.
Sir Richard, congratulations on your induction and thank you for
taking the time for a chat.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Pleas, thank you for more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine.
Listen live to News Talk z B weekends from midday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Fine
from Newstalk zed B.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Richard Hadley was unveiled as one of the first eleven
inductees into New Zealand Crickets Hall of Fame. After that
induction ceremony on Thursday night, I had the chance to
speak with Sir Richard Hadley. Sir Richard Hadley, it.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Seems to me as though when they were putting together
the inaugural inductees, your name was going to be near
the top of the list. How do you reflect on
your cricket career and it's totality first of all, when
you think back to those many great moments.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Oh, look, I had a wonderful time in the game
of cricket in an eighteen year international career, a twenty
year first class career.
Speaker 5 (00:46):
Very proud of what I've been able.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
To achieve a lot of significant milestones personally.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
But collectively as a team too.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Played in an era in the seventies and eighties when
we were doing many firsts in the.
Speaker 5 (00:59):
History of New Zealand cricket.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
When you beat Australia for the first time as we
did at Lancaster Partment seventy four, beating England for the
first time at the base in Reserve and Wellington and
seventy eight, and then we had significant first victories offshore,
beating England in eighty three at Headingly, and then we
had won the series there in eighty six and beating
(01:21):
Australia and Australia for the first time in eighty five
six the Gabattez went on to take the series to win.
So those significant firsts will always outweigh personal milestones, and
people tend to remember when you'd done things for the
first time. But as far as runs and wickets, we're
concerned if you play the games and you bowl the
(01:41):
balls and you're going to get wickets. If you're out
there batting, you're going to accumulate runs. And in my
career accumulated a lot of runs and a lot of wickets,
and I can look back with fond memories and great
pride of what I was able to achieve. On an
individual basis, we.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Talk about some of those performances that I went over
England out here for the first time nineteen seventy eight.
You know, Richard Collins obviously not to have a Jeff
Boy but then you did the damage with six for
twenty six. Where does that particular test rate beating England?
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Well, it was significant in fact, Richard Collins, we needed
a miracle basically because we got bowled out cheaply in
the second innings in the England and you need one
hundred and thirty seven to win, and we were walking
down the steps onto the field to play and we're.
Speaker 5 (02:30):
Being booed at. We're being jeered a bit.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Because the spectators are saying, well, you're blowing again. He's
in and you put yourself in a position of winning
and you've just let the opposition back in the game.
And I remember saying to Richard Collins, look, Rock, we
need something sensational to happen. Well, the thing that was
sensational was Boycott being knocked over for a duck and so.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
They were one for none and Rock picked up the.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
First three wickets so they were three for not many
and I hit Brian Rose on the elbow and he
decided to use his elbow to hit the ball and
so I had to retire hurt, probably with the broke
and broken arm. So effectively they were four or five
down for eighteen and Rock had done the damage and
then I was able to come in on the back
(03:15):
of it to pick up the next sort of four wickets.
We had to come back the next day to mop
up the tail, which took about thirty forty minutes or something,
so I ended up with six.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
But the thing that.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Was quite emotional for me is that my father had
been involved with New Zealand creget since nineteen thirty seven
when he were on the first tur of England, took
the forty nine team to England as captain, and then
he was a board member and president of New Zealand
Cricket and over the years he had never seen New
Zealand beat England. And it took something like forty eight
(03:52):
years from our first test in nineteen thirty forty eight
tests to seventy eight to win that first game against
England and probably involved fifty tests that we had played
against them other nation. So be able to do it
not only for myself the team, but to fulfill an
ambition dream for him made it even more significant.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
And what about wick and number three hundred out here
I sat on the bank patiently waiting for it to arrive,
and I think it was in the middle of the
middle session from memory that you finally got Alan border lbw.
Fred Goodall got his finger up. I think it's still up. Yeah,
what do you remember of that day?
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Well, going into that Test, I think I needed one
wicket to get to three hundred, and there's a lot
of people wagering bets as to how many balls it
would take, how long it would be, media speculation, you know,
creating a lot of interest basically, and obviously I was
(04:51):
hoping to do it in the first spell, get it
over and done with.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
The players were aware of it.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
All they wanted was for me to get it out
of the way so we can get on with the game.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
So mid afternoon something.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Like that, Fred Goodll had his finger up befo or
even appealed that was that dead. And so when you
reach milestones like that, you're knocking off sort of targets
or goals that you have. Because when I got that
three hundred test, Wig, I was one of six now
to have got those those wickets. I was in an
(05:26):
elite group of bowlers in the history of the game.
But I had to knock off five who were still
in front of me. So over a period of years,
another four or five years. You knock them off one
at a time and you get past in both in
which I did in India twelfth and over nineteen eighty eight.
Aaron Lale LBW remember it well. So that got me
(05:50):
past them both and get the three seventy four and
then there's only one goal left to keep me in
the game, and that was to get to four hundred.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
Me the first to do that, and that was my Everest.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
And it took me eighteen years to conquer my Everest.
I'm not sure how long it took Sareed Hillary to
conquer Everest. Who he might have taken, I don't know.
Was it a week, ten days, two weeks, I don't know.
It took me eighteen years to get to the top
and then slither down the other side with retirement.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
So now they would magic ties.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
And I must ask you about the gabb nine for
fifty two. I think I could probably recite the commentary
of all nine wickets, and in fact the tenth one
Jeff Lawson caught by yourself off Vaughan Brown, might have
been his only test wigetvarn Brown. You know, yeah, another
very special Test match, Richard.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Well, it was as far as the nine wickets, we're concerned.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
I had eight. I had eight in a row.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Then I took the catch to give Vaughan Brown his
first Test wicket, and people off and ass when the
ball went up in the air when Jeff laws And
swept it, and I think I was feeling at mid
mid island. I had to do ten twenty meters to
catch it around mid wicket. People said you think of
dropping it, and I said, na, what do you do
the ball goes up in the air, of course you
(07:09):
catch it, So that thought never entered my mind.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
So that happened.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Then I came back and got the last to make
it ten and fortunate to get six wickets in the
second innings. Had to work hard for that border of
Matthew's got hundreds in that second innings, so it was
quite a lot more harder to get wickets in the
second innings in the first, but obviously that set up
a good chance of victory. When we bowled them out
(07:37):
for I won sixty one seventy and then we piled
on something like five hundred Martin Crow one hundred and
eighty eight, John Reid one hundred as well, so we
had a significant lead and we had plenty of time
to bowl them out and ended up winning by an
innings and I think forty four runs to knock it
off in Australia for the first time. The Aussies went
(07:59):
talking two months that's we're sure and we were enjoying
the moment. It was a magical moment. Lost at Sydney
and then Perth to take the series.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Just to finish the stats mentioned about the relative infrequency
of New Zealand Test wins up till when you got
your first one, and the number that you were involved
in twenty two I think was the number of Test
victories you played a part and then often a significant part.
Was that something that you were also very keen to
do to drive New Zealand to victories through your own performances.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Well, my job simply with a new ball is to
get wickets, early wickets and being really the only out
and out strike bowler. We had good medium pace bowlers,
but as an attacking bowler was always having three slips
in a gully. I'm always going to get the new
ball and I'm going to bowl just before lunch, and
(08:53):
I'm going to bowl just after lunch, before t after tea.
When the second new ball comes, I get that the
bowl at nine, ten eleven, right, So I was always
having greater opportunities than other bowlers who really implemented me
at the other end by keeping it tight.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
And sure they'd get wickets as well, no question about that.
But everyone's got a.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Role in the team to play, and I always saw
myself as the aggressor the attacker, stamping my presence on
the ground in front of batsmen, that sort of thing.
And when you think about it, it's always the bowler
who dictates play. He dictates play wherever he pitches the
(09:37):
ball affects an outcome where the runs are scored. The
batsman lets the ball go, he plays and miss gets
it on the pad. The bowler always dictates play and
the batsman has to have a response to that. Now
that's not to say the bowler always dominates, because batsmen
also dominate, and they could score hundreds, two hundreds and
(09:59):
three hundreds. So my mentality was to accept the responsibility attack,
try and get wickets, and and the guys in a
supporting role with particularly in catching behind the wicket, were
hugely significant in the successes I had because if you're
catching at ninety ninety five percent. You're going to win
games and bowlers are going to get wickets. But if
(10:21):
you're dropping eight catches at in inns, dare I say it,
you're always behind the game. So collectively we all had
roles minus the bowl and get wickets. Others were to
do whatever they had to do, but fielding was vital
in the successes that I had.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Four hundred and thirty one of them, so many significant moments.
Sir Richard, congratulations on your induction and thank you for
taking the time for a chat.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Pleas, thank you for more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine.
Listen live to News Talk z B weekends from midday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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