Hadlee eager to lead Canty

Press, 24 September 1983, Page 72

Hadlee eager to lead Canty

Richard Hadlee came home to Christchurch yesterday with thoughts of a rest in mind, but with a keen desire to captain Canterbury in the forthcoming Shell Series cricket competition. Always a firm believer in incentives, Hadlee feels that he needs something new, such as the captaincy, after 12 years of top cricket. “I would like to have the opportunity to prove something else,” said Hadlee, “but I would be happy to play under anyone the Canterbury Cricket Association appoints.” Hadlee looked tired, after a hard season, but says he is in his best physical condition for years. His limited run-up helped him, he says, and there was no pressure, no anti feelings about it, while the team was on tour. The short run, he said, had been accepted in England for three years. “I feel I am just as effective and I think I bowled well enough in the tests to get 30 wickets at under 20 runs each,” he said. “But I had no luck at all.”

The short run, he hopes, will keep him in the firstclass game for the next three years. He will be back with Nottinghamshire after

the New Zealand season, and is three years away from a county benefit. Tha* national coaching scheme will engage Hadlee’s attention this season but he proposes to play for his club, High School Old Boys, whenever possible after the first' round. Now that he had reached the milestone of 200 test wickets, he might look realistically at an offer from South Africa, Hadlee said, but there was also the incentive of staying in test cricket to join the handful of players who have 2000 runs and 200 wickets in tests.

“I don’t think they (South Africa) can afford to have me,” he said. “It would cost a lot to counter the threat of being banned, and therefore the loss of earnings for the rest of my cricket life.” So it is unlikely that Hadlee will ever be seen again using his rhythmical, exciting long run. And he must have been off the short one as an author too, in recent weeks. “Hadlee Hits Out” will be published in November, and it will include chapters on the World Cup competition and the test series which ended in England last month.