Dayle Hadlee doffs his cap

Press, 27 April 1984, Page 15

Dayle Hadlee doffs his cap

The first-class career of the former test cricketer Dayle Hadlee has ended. One of the game’s most loyal servants will confine his activities to senior club cricket and, he hopes, to coaching. A very proficient coach, Hadlee hopes to have the time for instruction. But be will have to see what is involved in his new teaching position. At the start of the second term, he will become headmaster of the Wharenui School. At 36, he is among the youngest men to be put in charge of a city school, but bis appointment speaks for his skill and application. He did not lack these attributes in cricket, although it sometimes seems that any tribute to Dayle Hadlee should appear in the “Lancet” as well as a daily newspaper. No top New Zealand cricketer has been so staunch a survivor against attacks of illfortune such as he suffered. His long chapter of accidents began when he was playing soccer at school in 1963. He suffered a broken leg. The leg, his right one, had to be re-broken and set again a year later. And he was left with a plate, six screws and a right leg an inch shorter than the left one; some later injuries were a legacy from this. As a youngster, he was a bowler of considerable hostility, allying pace with precision. As a teenager he played for the national under-23 team and he was only 20 when he appeared for the South Island against the touring West Indies side. His clear promise, based on a beautifully-balanced run-

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up and a classic delivery, gave him a place in the New Zealand touring team of 1969. He had a satisfactory first tour of England, and excelled himself on the other legs of the tour, in India and Pakistan. In six tests there, he took 21 wickets at 15.9 runs each, on pitches lacking in pace. His determination, courage and endurance were as appealing as his ability to take wickets. At Bombay, the heat and humidity were frightful, and it seemed that all the pace bowlers would be limited to spells of about three overs. Hadlee had eight on end at one stage. He came home a hero, and the best bowling prospect the country had. He was the most successful bowler on a brief tour of Australia in 1969-70, but broke down with a back injury at Eden Park when an Australian side played New Zealand in an unofficial test. He did not play in 1970-71 and made only two appearances the following summer, because he lost part of a big toe in a motor mower. At least his replacement was his brother, Richard, and so Dayle was re-

R. T. BRITTENDEN

sponsible, in a way, for starting an illustrious career. Dayle Hadlee did well in England in 1973, however, and had the immense satisfaction of being in the first New Zealand test team to beat Australia. This great occasion was followed by three injuryfree and productive seasons, but then there was a recurrence of his back injury, so that in England in 1978 he had only one match before returning home. So there was no cricket in 1978-79. Hadlee bowled well and successfully in 1979-89, but then came a recurrence of an Achilles tendon injury. He lost two more seasons, but a couple of years ago underwent what was then experimental surgery to repair his Achilles tendon. It was a successful operation, and Hadlee was able to play in the last two matches of the 1982-83 season. Last summer, he had six games, but again he was out of action for a while. This time, a car accident, from which he suffered delayed concussion. His career ends with a record of 351 wickets at 25.2, and more than 2000

runs. For Canterbury, he took 195 wickets, which puts him fourth on the all-time list. Had he not lost so much cricket through injury, he would almost certainly have headed off Tom Burtt’s record of 241 wickets. After the first few years, Hadlee bowled at medium pace, but with marked ability to swing and cut the ball. He was always a thinker, and a trier. There have been few lateorder batsmen harder to shift than Dayle Hadlee. For Canterbury and New Zealand, he played many

match-saving or face-saving innings in the most difficult of situations. Very correct in his methods, Hadlee never found the occasion too much for him. His blend of courage and technique brought him much success, although be did not score a century until Canterbury played Sri Lanka two years ago. But even last season, he shared a match-winning partnership with Richard Hadlee against Auckland. Dayle Hadlee's 69 with a little masterpiece: all virtue in defence, he played some attacking shots of lyrical grace. So another Hadlee career has ended. He says he has had some "fantastic times, some very depressing times" but he found particular satisfaction in being in the Canterbury team which won the first Shell Trophy contest, and the second Canterbury side to succeed, last summer. The easy approach to the wicket, the elegance of the cover drive, will now be seen only at club level. But Dayle Hadlee’s contribution to New Zealand cricket will not soon be forgotten. He was one of the best, in technique and temperament. In courage, no-one excelled him.