18 Facts About Walter Hadlee

Walter Arnold Hadlee was a New Zealand cricketer and Test match captain.

Walter Hadlee played domestic first-class cricket for Canterbury and Otago.

Walter 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.

Walter Hadlee was awarded the Bert Sutcliffe Medal in 2001.

Walter Hadlee's father was a blacksmith with 9 siblings, whose parents arrived in Dunedin in 1869.

The young Walter Hadlee fell in love with cricket when he was about 10.

Walter Hadlee read cricket history avidly, kept scorebooks of all the big games at Lancaster Park, and practised assiduously.

Walter Hadlee finished his school career by captaining the first eleven.

Walter Hadlee missed the opportunity to play during the Second World War.

Walter Hadlee was never dismissed in Tests in single figures.

Walter Hadlee continued playing senior club cricket in Christchurch for another 15 years, eventually scoring a record 15,391 club runs.

Walter Hadlee was a national selector, a New Zealand team manager, and a member of the management committee and Board of Control of New Zealand cricket from 1950 to 1983.

Walter Hadlee was chairman from 1973 to 1978 and president from 1981 to 1983.

Walter Hadlee was a member of the "No Maoris, No Tour" protest movement, protesting against the All Blacks tour to South Africa in 1960.

Walter Hadlee was later blacklisted by the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee for writing an article in the 1982 Wisden which called for South Africa be permitted to play international cricket.

Walter Hadlee published an autobiography, Innings of a Lifetime, in 1993.

Walter Hadlee died, aged 91, at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Christchurch, reportedly from a stroke, some six weeks after hip replacement surgery.

Walter Hadlee shared how Walter Hadlee was an important figure in his life.