From autumn to a cricketing spring

Press, Issue 33842, 14 May 1975, Page 12

From autumn to a cricketing spring

The demands of international cricket, and the speed of modern transport, will soon whisk these five Canterbury players from their office and other vocations and take them across the world for the first fully representative cricket tournament They will leave Auckland on May 24 and after a few days’ training at Eastborne, and four practice games, will play their first match in the Prudential World Cup tournament on June 8.

It will be a dizzy change of scene for Barn- Hadlee (top left) an accountant, for this will be his first tour with a top New Zealand team. At centre top is Dayle Hadlee, a teacher, and at top right is Brian Hastings, an assistant advertising manager. Below, Richard Hadlee (right) is in one of the departments of the warehouse firm for which he works and Ken Wadsworth is in the transport yard of his freight firm.

Since the end of the cricket season, they have all been training regularly. Running, the use of muscle tuning devices, squash, golf and stamina building have been part of their various programmes. But they have been singularly fortunate that an extraordinarily mild autumn has allowed them to continue with their cricket practice. They have been at it each Saturday and only once have had to use the indoor school at Hagley Oval. On every other Saturday afternoon, they have practised outdoors on splendid pitches prepared for them by the Hagley Oval groundsman. Mr Gan- Walklin. Cricket in mid-May is usually quite out of the question.

The New Zealand team will return to Auckland on June 25.