Cricket : Hadlee an inaugural inductee to ICC Hall of Fame

New Zealand cricketing great Sir Richard Hadlee has been named as one of the inaugural inductees of the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame has been established by the ICC as part of its Centenary Year celebrations during 2009.

Hadlee joins such cricketing legends as WG Grace, Don Bradman, Garfield Sobers and Sunil Gavaskar as one of the initial 55 inductees. He is the only New Zealander named.

Hadlee said he was delighted to be selected as part of this milestone in celebrating cricket’s first 100 years.

"It's an honour to be included in the Hall of Fame alongside so many outstanding cricketers of the past hundred years,” said Hadlee.

“There's a lot of cricket history in that list of names - and it's a great way to celebrate the ICC's maiden ton. I hope there will be a few more New Zealanders on the list in the future too.”

The Hall of Fame is a collaboration between ICC and the Federation of International Cricketers Associations (FICA). The initial inductees are those named in the FICA Hall of Fame, which ran between 1999 and 2003. Additional names will be added annually from later this year, when new inductees will be announced at the LG ICC Awards ceremony.

The complete Hall of Fame, including players’ career statistics and biographies, can be viewed at http://www.catchthespirit.com/hall_of_fame/hall_of_fame_landing.aspx



ICC Hall of Fame Citation: Richard Hadlee (1972-1990)

Born 3 July 1951 at St Albans, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

Richard Hadlee was New Zealand’s best all-rounder. One of the finest exponents of fast-medium bowling the game has seen he became Test cricket’s leading wicket-taker. He became particularly successful when he shortened his run-up and concentrated on impeccable control. His Test wickets came at a rate of more than five per Test.

His best bowling was in the Test against Australia at Brisbane in 1985 when he took 15-123 in the match including 9-52 in the first innings. He was also a hard-hitting batsman and one of the few men to complete the double of 3 000 runs and 300 wickets in Tests. Playing for Nottinghamshire in 1984 he completed a carefully planned and well executed double of 1 000 runs and 100 wickets in the first-class season. He was knighted shortly before his final Test match in 1990.

ICC Cricket Hall of Fame – initial inductees

Sydney Barnes, Bishan Bedi, Alec Bedser, Richie Benaud, Allan Border, Ian Botham, Geoffrey Boycott, Donald Bradman, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Denis Compton, Colin Cowdrey, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Lance Gibbs, Graham Gooch, David Gower, WG Grace, Tom Graveney, Gordon Greenidge, Richard Hadlee, Walter Hammond, Neil Harvey, George Headley, Jack Hobbs, Michael Holding, Leonard Hutton, Rohan Kanhai, Imran Khan, Alan Knott, Jim Laker, Harold Larwood, Dennis Lillee, Ray Lindwall, Clive Lloyd, Hanif Mohammad, Rodney Marsh, Malcolm Marshall, Peter May, Javed Miandad, Keith Miller, Bill O’Reilly, Graeme Pollock, Wilfred Rhodes, Barry Richards, Vivian Richards, Andy Roberts, Garfield Sobers, Brian Statham, Fred Trueman, Derek Underwood, Clyde Walcott, Everton Weekes, Frank Woolley, Frank Worrell.