Cricket well served by the Hadlee family

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31975, 30 April 1969, Page 11

Cricket well served by the Hadlee family

The familiar ring to the words Hadlee and Hagley is coincidental; but it will come as no surprise If at some future date the two words become synonymous

for the oval adjoining Riccarton Avenue which serves as the headquarters for elub cricket in Christchurch. Family “dynasties" in sport are nothing new: in recent years Rugby has had its Clarkes; Rugby and Rugby league its Haigs; and soccer its Smiths. The Hadlee family's full impact on cricket is probably yet to be felt but even now it has left an indelible mark on the sport. New Zealand has produced no more able cricketer than Mr W. A. Hadlee and few men have given more back to the sport. His greatest gift, however. might prove to be his five sons.

One, Dayle, was recently •elected to follow in his father’s footsteps and tour England with a New Zealand team. Mr Hadlee was 20 when he first played for his country; Dayle will be a year older. Mr Hadlee excelled in a number of sports but it was cricket that brought him to national prominence. He was first selected for New Zealand in 1937 and toured England with the side of that year. Twelve years later he reached the pinnacle of his career when he captained the highlysuccessful 1949 New Zealand side to England. In 1965, Mr Hadlee again toured England with a New Zealand cricket team—this time as manager. For many years Mr Hadlee served on the management committee of the Canterbury Cricket Association and he is now a life member of the association. He is also a member of the New Zealand Cricket Council board of control

At 27, Barry is the eldest of the Hadlee junior quintet. He made an immediate Impact on senior cricket when in bis second season be was chosen for the Canterbury Plunket Shield side. He failed to hold his place in later years but has been a heavy scorer in club

cricket with more than 4000 runs to his credit, 10,000 less than his father’s record total. Barry is a member of the management committee of the Canterbury Cricket Association and last year represented Canterbury at badminton. Martin, aged 22, has proved a useful club batsman for Old Boys during five seasons in the senior grade. Golf, however, has been a strong draw and it is a game in which he has enjoyed considerable success. At present he plays to an eight handicap. Next is Richard, who at 17 shows great potential both as a batsman and as a bowler. He recently won a Cowens Award for the best bowler in the province under 18. He bats lefthanded, the only member of the family to do so. If a third New Zealand eap should one day be ordered for a Hadlee it

could well be Richard's head it adorns. The “baby" of the family is 14-year-old Christopher who last season played under-age cricket at Christchurch Boys' High School.

Mr Hadlee attended Christchurch Boys’ High School and was a member of the first eleven; as also were Barry, Martin, Dayle and last season Richard. Both Barry and Richard captained the first eleven. When Mr Hadlee and Barry played together for Old Boys in 1960 they became the third known father and son combination to have played together in Christchurch senior cricket. The lure of the bowling green has drawn Mr Hadlee away from Hagley oval wickets during the last two summers but he can often be seen skirting its boundaries as a spectator. With Barry, Martin and Dayle all members of the Old Boys senior team and Richard almost certain to join the line-up next year an uninformed passer-by may be excused if not able to understand how Hadlee can be out, batting both ends and next man in.

Backyard cricket has always had an important place in the Hadlee household and Barry does not rule out the possibility that he learnt to walk with the aid of a cricket bat

Until 1958, the family lived in Wairarapa Terrace and it then shifted a few hundred yards to a house In Fendalton Road.

At Wairarapa Terrace there was a half-length concrete wicket with a malthold surface. Mr Hadlee's father, a blacksmith and a keen cricket follower, provided dozens of horseshoes as reinforcing for the concrete strip. At the Fendalton Road property a grass pitch was laid out but in recent times an overturned wheelbarrow for wickets, an U-yard pitch and a tennis ball have kept the family occupied on nights when club and school practices did not make prior call.

As with most forms of backyard cricket the threat of broken windows is everpresent. It would seem that

the Hadlee family has broken its share and a garage on the Fendalton Road property has 16 windows, none of which offers any protection from the elements.

All five boys are still living at home but for Dayle the break will come this year. He is to marry Miss Louise Roberts three weeks before the touring team leaves New Zealand on June 8.

Dayle said be considered the possibility of him being included in the team so unlikely that the marriage plans had been made with no thought to bis “taking off” so soon after.

As a schoolboy, Dayle showed considerable talent as a soccer goal-keeper but in 1963 in the last game of the season he suffered a multiple fracture of his right leg. Two operations, a bone graft and the insertion of a plate in his leg—which he still carries—resulted, in an enforced season out of cricket. Dayle bolds an advanced coaching certificate Issued by the New Zealand Cricket Council. He believes he is bowling much faster in recent months and attributes this largely to the assistance and advice given by his fellow New Zealand fast bowler, R. C. Motz. Turning out six people for sport on Saturdays has not been without problems for Mrs Hadlee but the pleasure her husband and sons’ sport has given her has, she feels, been more than sufficient compensation.

For many summers, Mrs Hadlee has prepared a cut lunch on Saturdays and the family has gathered at Hagley Park and eaten together. Before her marriage she was not interested in cricket but after many years of mealtime discussions feels competent to speak on the game.

Her favoured sport, however, is golf and as a member of the Russley Golf Club she spends two days a week on the links.

The picture above shows Mr and Mrs Hadlee with their sons, from left, Christopher, Martin. Barry, Richard and Dayle.