You've got to keep winning: Sir Richard Hadlee

Sir Richard Hadlee stands tall in the pantheon of greats in New Zealand cricket. Correction: World cricketing, considering his well-rounded success across the globe throughout his 1973 to 1990 Test career. In this span, he played 86 Tests and claimed 431 wickets. His batting ability made him one of the premier all-rounders of the game in an era which witnessed Kapil Dev, Ian Botham and Imran Khan - pacemen, who could get into a cricket playing XI on their batting prowess alone.
The 63-year-old legend, who is the perfect ambassador for his country, is also promoting the ongoing World Cup and NZ Tourism. He spoke to us recently...

New Zealand is one of the teams which has made the semi finals of the World Cup several times but never won the finals. Has this fact distressed you over the years?
It has become a concern, now going back to 1975, 1979; we made the semi finals then, and four other times, so six times now we made the semi finals. It's a little concerning and South Africa are probably finding it exactly the same. They have made it to the semi finals and being knocked out and England and got to the finals and so of the top eight teams in world cricket, three teams are in the same position more or less, pretty much and as I said before there could be motivation to really keep the record book to play all our games here.

How optimistic are you?
We have got a good team. But you know, you can build the team up and of course, from the New Zealand point-of-view, you want them to do well. I think South Africa are a team that are very capable this time around. They are well organized, very methodical, very professional, have got good players and the conditions that they are going to play in and they have got some of the top rated players and batsmen and bowlers anyway, so I think they are a real threat. Now for us, a lot of things got to go well first. We need the experienced players to stand up, we need some consistency. When you look at World Cups, there is always an outstanding player who becomes Player of the Tournament. I think, if New Zealand has to win it, then that player has to come from that team.

Do you have any idea who that player might be?
Well, it could be any one of about three or four. But the point is, we have got to stand up on the international scene under pressure and keep performing game after game. in 1992, we won seven games in a row and the impact this time now in a full game and then in the semi finals, they may want to knock us out of the tournament to go on and win the tournament. We can be as optimistic as we like, very supportive as we want to be. The players on the day over a period of six weeks in tournament play, you got to be mentally, and technically and physically geared up to do.

The closest New Zealand came to invincibility was in the 1992 edition. Was it heartbreaking to lose that semi-final lost to eventual champions Pakistan?
Ya, it was because it was played at the Eden Park in Auckland. I was there and I was doing the commentary at that time and they got a very competitive first innings score. We were right in the game and then, all of a sudden, Javed Miandad and Imran Khan started to turn it around and then, Inzamam-Ul -Haq came and played the innings of a lifetime. An absolute game where he got 60-odd in 30 balls or something like that and took the game away and it was a very emotional time for New Zealand because we had given everything to the tournament. The whole nation was behind them in riding this wave of emotion. All of a sudden, it was over and there were tears in the eyes of the players. And the spectators stood in admiration of what they had done and felt for the players because it was all over and so maybe we want to try and replicate here in New Zealand that sort of emotion and the country is right behind the team.

You agree playing at home country is always an advantage?
It has to be an advantage. If we lose a couple of games, people could be switched off, you got to keep winning. And if they do, then the nation gets behind them, as they did with rugby because we are a rugby-playing country and we have hosted two World Cups in New Zealand and won it twice. So if the cricket team wants to take a leaf out of the rugby team's performance to do something they have done twice and we have not done it all, then those sort of motivational tools of your life can become quite powerful.

The 1992 World Cup was your first as a retired cricketer. Was this disappointment difficult to digest for you?
No, my time was over. I finished in 1990 and I was 39 years of age and my days were gone. I didn't actually go to India and Pakistan for the 1987 World Cup. I didn't play in that one or I didn't go, but I had three World Cups and I acknowledge that World Cups are hugely important in the calendar of world cricket. And players want a chance to play, but I'll testify that Test cricket, for me, was the ultimate game of cricket even though I played a 115 one day internationals (ODIs). For me, Test cricket was the greatest challenge and skill set required in the fame of cricket. So when I retired, it was gone, I had no regrets and I don't think of putting myself into World Cup situations.

You know like everyone also said, may be Sachin should have waited and then retired after the World Cup, but he just wanted to retire.
There just comes a time.

You were the chief selector when New Zealand travelled to Southern Africa for the 2003 World Cup where New Zealand did not hit the high notes. What do you think went wrong?
What went wrong is we didn't win (laughs). We didn't perform. I think we lost a key game against Australia at Port Elizabeth and it was a critical game. We had Australia reeling at something like 80 for six. Shane Bond came up with a magnificent bowling performance. Anyway, Andy Bichel and Michael Bevan got Australia to a reasonable score of 208 and we were bowled out for 112. We had the game half won and couldn't get across the line and I think that effectively eliminated us from the tournament. So that was the key note.

How much coaching do you do nowadays?
I don't do any coaching. I am on the board of cricket. I am in the ministry.

Don't you miss teaching or you did not like to teach?
No, I have got other interests.

Is there any explanation as to why fast bowlers break down so regularly now?
It's historical. People break down all the time and fast bowling is not a natural thing to do. So if you are running in from 28 mtrs, gathering in pace and twisting and turning and delivering the ball running through and then stopping…….. and you do that a lot of times through repetition, then there is going to be wear and tear on the body. Just recently, I have had a right hip replacement and a left knee replacement both done at the same time. So you are going to have knee problems, you are going to have hip problems, you are going to have back problems and shoulder problems. You are going to pull muscles - calf muscles and hamstring. It's just an occupational hazard. The things you got to look at is an efficient technique, the more efficient that you are, the greater chance you have of replicating it before breaking down. So the fitness and training routines, foot wear, is hugely important. And management. You cannot keep playing every day of the week and three hundred and sixty five days in a year. So you have got to be managed and sometimes be left out of the tour to have a break, to recover, and then come back in again and that is more important. So again, it's a combination of all these things.

Many great fast bowlers believe that current-day fast bowlers spend more time in the gym rather than running on the beach, or simply putting in long hours at the nets. Do you agree?
That's interesting because during my time, I hadn't used any gymnasiums at all and everything was about running for endurance, sprint work for stamina and bowling. Your body can take shape through bowling. The more you bowl, the more efficient you should become in developing your technique and getting your skill sets right. The point that we made has been challenged a lot about too much work in the gym and not enough following through. I can only look at it from my point of view. If I did what I have to do today, with all the gym work or going into ice baths, I wouldn't want to play the game.

You come from a cricketing family. Did cricket dominate dinner conversations at home? How did your mum feel about having cricketing sons to look after?
Ya, you've got to remember that there are five boys in the family, so mother used to prepare our whites and playing gear as youngsters, prepare our whites so that we were nicely tied for school matches or weekly games and those sorts of things. We would give her the dirty whites to get rid of all the grass and the grime. My mother took great pride in doing that and having us all turned out smartly. My father used to say, 'If you can't be a player, look like a player'. So, having the gear, the equipment and looking as though you are a cricketer, he felt was hugely important.

Do you remember where you were this day in November 18, 1988 is when I made my question, so I am sticking to that. Should I remind you?
Go on...

You were in Bangalore, all set to leave for Hyderabad for the second Test of the series. Bangalore was a mixed bag, you became the highest wicket taker in the game when you dismissed Arun Lal on the first morning and by the end of the Test, you were ill. Do you remember that day?
I was ill during that particular match, I think, and seven of us were sick. Yes, it was November 12, when I got the world record in Bangalore, and so we lost that game. We went to Bombay after that.

If you had two minutes to chat with a budding fast bowler, what would be your advice be to him?
It would be to prepare well and to be prepared to make the sacrifices to do all the training, running, sprinting and the exercise and stretching and encourage him to bowl. And that's a balance, so all these particular things, it's very easy to say to enjoy things, but many many times you can't enjoy because you are sore and bowling on tough pitches and when batsmen are scoring hundreds. If you are getting wickets, obviously you can enjoy.

And if you were given six balls to bowl to the great batsmen of your time, which six would you choose to bowl to?
One ball to each. Viv Richards is going to be up there, Greg Chappell, Sunil Gavaskar and Allan Border, so I'm bowling to the best. David Gower was a very good player and Ian Botham.