Bill Frindall Column
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Tour allowed me to catch up with two New Zealand greats
A major bonus of touring abroad is the chance to catch up with some outstanding players of the past.
It was my good fortune that the international careers of two of New Zealand's greatest cricketers, Sir Richard Hadlee and Glenn Turner, coincided with my time in the BBC Commentary Box.
Richard Hadlee was a supremely professional cricketer, almost as obsessive about his fitness and pre-match preparation as Geoffrey Boycott.
Probably a decade ahead of his time in adhering to a rigid training discipline, he achieved the coveted double for Nottinghamshire in 1984 through meticulous target-setting of runs and wickets.
Analysing the pitches he would play on and the players he would face, he carefully distributed the 1,000 runs and 100 wickets he required.
His bowling action was as rhythmic and smoothly honed as any in the history of the game.
Designed to produce maximum effect from a minimum of effort, it was a perfect sideways-on example from which his varied hand-actions and subtle changes of pace could propel a bewildering catalogue of deliveries.
Richard Hadlee was the Mean Machine of bowlers and by far the most dangerous New Zealand has produced.
In 86 Test matches he took 431 of his 1,490 first-class wickets at the frugal cost of 22.29 runs apiece.
They included half his 18 ten-wicket match hauls and 36 of his 102 five-wicket bags. Add 3,124 runs at 37.71, including two hundreds, plus 198 catches, and you have an exceptional all-rounder.
I recorded Glenn Turner's debut match for Worcestershire in 1967.
Earnestly correct, he was soon dubbed the Slow Turner' because he could hardly hit the ball off the square.
Limited-overs cricket was the making of him as it compelled him to expand his range of strokes and memorise gaps in the field.
Swiftly he became an attractive stroke-maker, to such an extent that, in 1973, he achieved the rare feat of scoring 1,000 first-class runs before the end of May.
In 41 Tests he scored 2,991 runs at 44.64 with seven centuries, the highest being 259 against West Indies.
One of the most consistent run-makers of his era, his 34,346 first-class runs at 49.70 included 103 hundreds, the highest tally of centuries by a Kiwi, and a career-best undefeated 311.
Although I occasionally reminded him of his county circuit nickname of Budgie' (because he tried to get everything on the cheap!), we got on extremely well during my summers with TVNZ in the 1980s.
I was privileged to be his house guest both in Dunedin and at his bach' in the lakeside resort of Wanaka.
He has long enjoyed iconic status in Otago and Suki, his Indian-born wife, was, for several years, Mayor of Dunedin City Council.
When not on duty, Glenn would frequently slumber contentedly in the commentary box. I once snapped him in mid-siesta and our producer startled the victim by putting the shot on air while he was actually talking - several times.
I once informed Glenn, also on air, that Jeremy Coney's mother had invented radio (Ma Coney).
Surprisingly, I was invited back.
9:22am Thursday 3rd April 2008
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