by Abhishek Mukherjee
1949.
It had been almost a year since Don Bradman's Invincibles had returned from the English shores undefeated.
New Zealand were due to tour England. True, England were still recovering from the Second World War, but surely they were good enough to trounce a side that were yet to win even a Test match?
This team was led by a thin, almost frail chartered accountant in horn-rimmed glasses. He was not your ubiquitous sportsperson. For example, he collapsed in the dressing-room on a hot day during the match against Derbyshire.
But Walter Hadlee was a natural leader. He was a strict disciplinarian, had the gift of the gab (apart from keeping his team motivated, he also had to delivered different speeches at every tour match), but more importantly, he was a supreme strategist.
He did not have a great team but made the most of it. One of his strategies involved drafting Fijian legend IL Bula into the side (it was legal). It did not materialise for non-cricketing reasons.
New Zealand returned from the tour without losing a Test or to a county. The 49ers, fans called them affectionately. The squad consisted of several youngsters – Bert Sutcliffe, Harry Cave, Geoff Rabone, John R Reid, Frank Mooney – who would go on to become key members of the side in the next decade.
They won 15 of their 40 matches (34 First-Class) and drew 24; their only defeat came against Oxford University.
Hadlee hated that defeat. When he toured with the New Zealand team in 1990 (when his son got knighted), he ran into Worcestershire President George Chesterton, who had played for Oxford that day. Hadlee winced when Chesterton reminded him.
They could have won any of the four Tests (three-day matches, remember). Set 299 at Headingley, they finished with 195/2 when time ran out. At Lord's they led by 171 but England saved the Test. At Old Trafford they got 348/7 while up against a lead of 147. It was a near-encore at The Oval, where the numbers read 308/9 and 137.
Remember, all this was achieved with only one star (Martin Donnelly) in the side. Only two bowlers (Jack Cowie and Fen Creswell) delivered with ball, and Hadlee decided to back them. There was an umbrella consisting of slips, gully, and leg-slip. He did away without cover and extra-cover till the score reached forty or fifty. Perhaps a tad overaggressive but it worked.
Hadlee himself averaged only 32 but scored at least 22 every time. Not great but hard-nosed, resilient performances.
"After 1949 I felt I could have followed Hadlee round the world," Sutcliffe later admitted.
Hadlee averaged 30 in Test cricket and 40 at First-Class level. His most famous innings came for Otago, against an almost full-strength Australian attack (Bill O'Reilly, Ray Lindwall, Ian Johnson, Bruce Dooland) in 1945-46. He opened batting after the Australians led by 152, and was last out for 198 out of a team score of 347.
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But Hadlee's contributions to New Zealand cricket did not end there. For example, he managed New Zealand on the 1965 tour of England. At times the squad waited inside the team couch members as Hadlee negotiated with the laundry bill or something similar. He managed to get a refund at every hotel.
He had been a BCNZ (now NZC) member in 1950 when he was still a Test cricketer. He was their Chairman from 1973 to 1978, and President from 1981 to 1983.
He led the "No Maoris No Tour" protests when the All Blacks toured South Africa without a coloured player in 1960. Along with him were former Test teammate Gordon Leggat, rugby star George Nepia, and one of the four "Queens of Crime", Ngaio Marsh.
He fathered three international cricketers, one of them an all-time World-XI contender. A fourth played age-group cricket for Canterbury but not beyond (the family has cited "prolonged exposure to the fiery bowling of Dayle and Richard in the back garden" as a reason.
Walter Hadlee was born this 4 June 1915.