9. Sir Richard Hadlee – New Zealand
Anybody who is knighted for the services to cricket has to be included in this list.
But seriously, Sir Richard Hadlee was one of the great fast-medium bowlers ever to grace the world stage, and earned the honour of being the first bowler to take more than 400 Test crickets.
Arguably the greatest all-round player New Zealand has ever produced, Hadlee bowled with control, precision and always threatened to take wickets.
His performances against England Australia in the mid 1980’s were the stuff of legend and are a big reason why he ended up with 431 Test wickets from 86 matches, with a best innings performance of 9-52, with 36 five-wicket hauls in an innings and and nine 10-wicket match performances.
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