Hadlee on cancer, stats and cars
Sir Richard Hadlee, New Zealand’s greatest cricketer, is digging in for the battle to dismiss his toughest foe.
Hadlee has revealed, in a telling interview with former national team-mate Ian Smith in the second instalment of Sky Sport’s The Pod series last night that the cancer he was diagnosed with in 2018 remains a major concern.
In an entertaining chat between two of the standout figures in a golden era for New Zealand cricket, Hadlee opens up on his health battle that saw him undergo two surgeries in 2018, as well as chemotherapy treatment, after being diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer.
The legendary right-arm fast bowler and dashing left-hand lower-order bat told Smith that the treatments appear to have gone well but admits, as the renowned numbers man he was during his career, that he does not feel he is out of the woods yet.
‘‘I finished my chemo just over a year ago now towards the end of January and the body has been recovering since,’’ Hadlee said.
‘‘At the moment I feel very, very good, and have done for a good year and a bit. The weight’s back on, I think I’ve got my sense of humour back and things are good.’’
But Hadlee said statistical realities keep him on edge as he lives with the knowledge the cancer could return.
‘‘With the diagnosis of stage 4 colorectal [cancer] I was given the news I’ve got a 50 percent chance of surviving five years
. . . well, I’m two years into that
five, so the next 12-24 months are still quite critical because if anything comes back – the thought of going through the whole process again is not one I would relish.’’
Then Hadlee, the first man to 400 wickets in tests, showed indeed that that sense of humour had made it through his ordeal.
‘‘So, being the stats man I am, I’d like to try and beat those odds and be on the right side of 50 per cent,’’ he said.
Hadlee is by most people’s measure New Zealand’s finest ever cricketer. He took a then record 431 wickets in 86 tests at an average of 22.29, including 36 times taking five wickets in an innings and nine times snaring 10 victims in a match.
He was also a handy bat down the order (averaging 27.16 in tests, including two centuries and 15 50s) and was considered one of the four great all-rounders the game produced in the 1980s, alongside Ian Botham, Imran Khan and Kapil Dev.
Hadlee was undoubtedly the inspiration behind an unprecedented era of success for the New Zealand team in the test arena, presiding over a 12-year unbeaten home test series record (sparked by victory over the then formidable West Indies in 1979-80) and historic series wins in Australia and England, among a string of notable feats.
However, he was not without his contentious moments during his career and he covered off on one of them in his interview with Smith — the
infamous car standoff from the 1985-86 tour of Australia.
At the end of that Australian summer Hadlee was named International Cricketer of the Year for an outstanding contribution to his side’s first series victory in Australia, which included an incredible 9-52 at the Gabba where he was all but unplayable. His prize was a flash new Alfa Romeo which, on this occasion, he decided to keep.
An almighty kerfuffle ensued over whether Hadlee should be allowed to keep the car, as he desired, or should have to top up the team fund by its value, as was the custom for individual prizes such as this. Eventually the players reluctantly agreed to let the great man retain his prize, with Hadlee supposedly providing a holiday in Taupo as recompense for his team-mates. It was, according to reports at the time, sparsely taken up.
Hadlee explained to Smith after being presented the keys to the car at the Sydney Cricket Ground and being told the manufacturers were prepared to ship it to New Zealand, he simply had a change of heart.
‘‘There was a point of difference,’’ he told Smith. ‘‘It was on object, if you like. It wasn’t until we were on the plane home that management said to me ‘Richard, you’re going to have to sell the car and put the money into team funds’.
‘‘I think that stigma of keeping the car stayed around for a long, long time. I’d like to think it’s all over now but I think there were some people that were very, very bitter about the decision.’’
‘‘The weight’s back on, I think I’ve got my sense of humour back and things are good.’’
Sir Richard Hadlee