Sir Richard Hadlee — one of the greatest fast-bowlers the game has seen, also an all-rounder of considerable repute — was inducted in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame here on Friday afternoon. His hair might have greyed, his waist thickened, and he might have needed a pair of bifocals to read his acceptance speech, but the memories of the great deeds he achieved — 431 Test wickets at just over 22; 3124 runs at over 27 — remain.He spoke to the media on his best moments, on why he considers Sachin Tendulkar the greatest batsman to have played the game, and on Ishant Sharma’s potential. (Excerpts): On the honour: I have been very fortunate during my playing career and to be recognised is very, very special. To be one of the first 55 inductees, it doesn’t get much better than that. On how he’d like to be remembered: I’d like to be remembered as somebody who played hard in a very successful era for New Zealand cricket.
On his most memorable performance: As sports people, we all strive for perfection and the closest I could get was against the Australians in 1985-86 at the Gabba. We’ve never won in Australia before and to go ahead and win that Test by an innings and to make a personal contribution of nine wickets in the first innings and six in the second and score a few runs (54) was special. Everything came together at the right time. On the best batsman he has seen: I played against Sachin on his tour here in 1990 when he got that 80 or 90-odd at the McLean Park in Napier. You could see then as a youngster he was a player of immense ability and talent. When you score as many runs as he has in Test and one-day cricket and score as many centuries and half-centuries as he has done, it makes him arguably the greatest player ever in the history of the game. Statistics speak volumes of his contribution to Indian and world cricket. He is a phenomenal player.
On Tendulkar vs. Bradman: Well Sir Donald Bradman has been regarded as the greatest batsman ever. He played just Test cricket. He hasn’t played any other forms of the game. Clearly that is understandable. But to see Sachin and other players actually adjust to different forms of the game in different conditions all around the world, even though the average is fractionally more than half of the Don’s is in itself incredible. You got to respect it. On the best all-rounder in world cricket: Jacques Kallis is the best all-rounder for what he has done for South Africa. His statistics put him greater than any other all-rounder with 10,000 Test runs and over 250 wickets.
On the touring Indian team: I think they have some fantastic players wonderfully led by M.S. Dhoni. Ishant will be a top-line performer in the future if he isn’t already. Harbhajan (Singh) is quality spinner and the batting line-up, the top six, is something to be proud of. India is right up there, one of the three best teams in world cricket. On Ishant: He burst on the scene in Australia and hurried the batsmen up. Physically he is tall, imposing. He runs in hard, fast, has a good, high action and skills with the ball. But he’s only 20. What can he be like in the next five years? He can be something very, very special.