Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born |
Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand |
4 June 1915|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 29 September 2006 Christchurch, New Zealand |
(aged 91)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting style | Right-hand bat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling style | Right-arm medium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National side |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Test debut (cap 29) | 26 June 1937 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last Test | 24 March 1951 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: Cricinfo, 1 April 2017
|
Walter Arnold Hadlee, CBE (4 June 1915 – 29 September 2006) was a New Zealand cricketer and Test match captain. He played domestic first-class cricket for Canterbury and Otago. Three of his five sons, Sir Richard, Dayle and Barry played cricket for New Zealand. The Chappell–Hadlee Trophy, which is competed for by Test teams from New Zealand and Australia is named in honour of the Hadlee family and the Australian Chappell family (see Ian Chappell, Greg Chappell).
Hadlee captained one of New Zealand's most highly regarded teams, the 1949 side which toured England in an era when New Zealand had yet to win a Test. As an administrator, he guided New Zealand cricket in the mid-1970s during years of increasing professionalism, the Kerry Packer threat and the sporting boycott of South Africa.
Hadlee was born in Lincoln, Canterbury. His father was a blacksmith with 9 siblings, whose parents arrived in Dunedin in 1869. The young Hadlee fell in love with cricket when he was about 10. He read cricket history avidly, kept scorebooks of all the big games at Lancaster Park, and practised assiduously. Though he initially appeared awkward, at Christchurch Boys' High School, he also played hockey and rugby, and developed into a punishing batsman, particularly strong on the drive. He finished his school career by captaining the first eleven. He trained as a chartered accountant.