The Hundred: 40 to 31

40: Garfield Sobers

As any young cricket fan in the Seventies would know, the West Indian all-rounder scored 8,032 Test runs and 365 not out, both world records lasting many years. I’m just about old enough to remember seeing him on the News tonking poor Malcolm Nash all over Wales in 1968 and his batting masterclass against England at Lord’s in ‘73. He was a bit creaky bowling Sunday League stuff for Notts but Dad would remind me I was watching one of the world’s greatest players – and he was right. 

39: Mahela Jayawardene

OK, so his record outside Asia was rather modest but the man from Colombo was one of the batsmen I most enjoyed watching this century. The adjective ‘elegant’ is normally reserved for tall men but, at 5 feet 7,Jayawardene was the exception. He could play shots all around the wicket with effortless ease and no right-hander has surpassed his immense 374 against South Africa in 2006. His century deserved to win the 2011 World Cup Final, but MS Dhoni had other ideas, and Mahela also really rocked the helmet-and-bandana look. 

38: Richard Hadlee

As a contemporary of Lillee, Holding, Marshall, Kapil Dev, Botham, Imran Khan and others, he rarely gets a look-in when it comes to video montages of 1970s/80s pacemen. However, it was the New Zealander whose new-ball pace and swing made him the first man to reach 400 Test wickets. He was the lynchpin of the Black Caps’ excellent Eighties outfit and played many county seasons for Notts. I never saw him bowl but he came on for the tourists as 12^th man at Chelmsford just after his knighthood was announced. The applause must be the loudest ever heard for a sub fielder! 

37: Gordon Greenidge

Another familiar face (and moustache) on the county circuit - for Hampshire – Greenidge was the epitome of explosive strokeplay yet calmness under pressure. I loved it whenever he strode out to the middle for the West Indies because we were usually in for a treat. He notched well over 50,000 runs in all formats and of course was an excellent catcher, too. Gordon’s final day 214 not out at Lord’s in ’84 was nothing short of sensational and to think he was once qualified to play for England…. 

36: Jonty Rhodes

I can’t think of many cricketers who people would pay to watch just for his fielding but Jonty Rhodes as certainly one of them. His Test career was delayed by South Africa’s ban but for 11 years he was one of the most electric fielders on the planet, not so much for his acrobatic catching but his athleticism and throwing from the covers or backward point. Batsmen took him on at their peril. He was ostensibly a batsman, albeit down the order, and he averaged a decent 35 or so in Tests and ODIs. However, he was worth many more runs and wickets with his stops and run-outs. I was fortunate in 1998 to witness a few of these against Essex. 

35: Virat Kohli

I remember seeing a young Virat Kohli playing in an ODI for India and wondering why on earth he wasn’t in their Test team. He wasn’t a slogger, yet scored quickly, efficiently and unflappably. Since his 2011 Test debut he has gone on to become the greatest – and richest – all-round batsman of his generation, accumulating centuries, ODI run records and a global fanbase. He may not be the best traveller but I always enjoy watching him bat as well as marshal his fielders. At Cardiff I also noted his willingness to respond to adoring crowds urging him to “Give us a wave”, the sign not only of a great sportsman but also a superior role model. Kohli has it all. 

34: Ian Bell

I often attach myself to cricketers who go about their business skilfully but without fanfare. Walking egos like Botham, Petersen and Stokes crave attention but I prefer my players to be like Ian Bell. It’s amazing to think he made his debut against the Windies sixteen summers ago, top-scoring with 70, since when he played 118 Tests and 161 ODIs. He has endured some torrid times but was imperious in 2010 and 2011, then again in the 2013 Ashes series.  I also appreciate his loyalty to Warwickshire, although he is currently woefully out of form. 

33: Hallam Moseley

At a time when I lapped up every West Indian fast bowler, it’s fair to say that Hallam Moseley didn’t exactly hog the headlines. He was no Joel Garner, but proved a great servant to the county throughout the 1970s. I saw him play live only once (in 1981) but he was a frequent fixture on TV. Besides a very useful limited-overs seamer, the bespectacled Barbadian was extremely popular for his under-arm throwing to the wicket, good humour and readiness to sign autographs on the boundary. 

32: Craig Kieswetter

A decade ago, Somerset were blessed with two classy wicketkeeper-batsmen. One was the teenage Buttler, but even he wasn’t the best. Instead the SA-born, Millfield-educated Craig Kieswetter was for a while England’s preferred option for ODIs and T20, in which he was an outstanding improviser, but it was his superior red-ball batting which led the county to sacrifice Jos at the end of 2013. This made his horrific facial injury suffered the following July all the more galling. He never fully recovered, officially quit cricket in 2016 and at Somerset has never been replaced. 

31: Greg Chappell

The Aussie also played briefly for Somerset but a few years before my time. Then, during the ‘70s, Greg became one of the most prolific Test batsmen in the world. He was very hard to get out and always looked so upright and elegant at the crease. He blotted his copybook in a 1981 ODI by, with a six needed off the last ball, instructing his brother Trevor to bowl a sneaky daisy-cutter. I recall as a boy trying to copy his tidy medium-pace seam-up bowling action but it’s for his imperious batting – and he scored centuries in his first and last matches - that he should be remembered.

England v New Zealand ODIs – 40 Years Ago

England’s new-found aggressive approach to one-day cricket has won plaudits around the country. After all, everybody loves a slogfest, don’t they? If teams can smash 200 in a T20, then 350 to 400 should be the bar minimum we can expect in a full fifty overs, shouldn’t it?

Well, no, actually. Not that I’m saying I don’t enjoy witnessing a batsman clearing the ropes. At Cardiff on Saturday afternoon, I was unashamedly on my feet to celebrate each of Tom Cooper’s sixes – before the heavy drizzle and Messrs Duckworth and Lewis awarded the match to Glamorgan. Trouble is, I also enjoy seeing a bowler splatter the opponent’s stumps, but the balance has shifted too far away from the latter for my liking.

I didn’t follow the IPL at all this year because I find its manufactured ‘entertainment’ boring, too predictable. At least, over fifty overs, you know that Jos Buttler, Ross Taylor, Ben Stokes and co are taking a calculated gamble when deciding to take on class bowlers like Tim Southee and Trent Boult.

Before this series, I think it was Paul Collingwood who described England’s World Cup strategy was ‘prehistoric’. Ironic that it took the arrival at the ECB of the ultra-cautious ex-captain Andrew Strauss to change things around, even if New Zealand adopted that method a while back, to great effect. The Durham man should know about the way they used to play. He top-scored and took two wickets in England’s first ever T20 international, a drubbing of Australia ten years ago this week. He also became the only England skipper to win a major global trophy in 2010.

However, not even Colly was alive when England first met NZ in an ODI. The Black Caps played and lost a short Test series here in 1973 and also met for a 55-over fixture, officially only the sixth ODI in history. It may seem odd now but it took place in at the St Helens ground in Swansea.

If you thought England’s scoring rate Down Under was poor, take a look at the way most nations played in the early years of international one-dayers. New Zealand leader Bev Congdon won the toss and decided to bat, which soon looked a poor decision. The England pair of Geoff Arnold and John Snow left NZ reeling at 15-4 before Glenn Turner (26 in 69 balls) and Vic Pollard (55 in 112 balls) steadied the ship. Nevertheless, they were bowled out for 158 with thirteen balls remaining. The scoring rate? 2.99 an over!

Did England set out to knock off the runs quickly and take a massive mental lead over their opposition in the 2-match competition? Not exactly. Our main batsman was, let’s face it, Geoffrey Boycott! He adopted the same style that he always did in Test matches and ground his way to 20 runs in 88 balls before being caught. Perhaps surprisingly, his opening partner Dennis Amiss played the good cop to Boycott’s bad. He went on to score a century – already his second in this format - and England won by seven wickets. The tally of sixes was four. Half of them came from the bat of a 21 year-old called Richard Hadlee, the younger brother of the more established Test pair of Dayle and Barry.

The next encounter came in the group stages of 1975’s inaugural World Cup at Trent Bridge. Again, England’s line-up would make Cook and Bell resemble McCullum and Warner, but at least Boycott had made way for Amiss’s Warwickshire big-hitting partner John Jameson. Amazingly there was another individual century to admire, courtesy of 31year-old Keith Fletcher. His only ODI hundred included 13 fours. The total of 266-6 off sixty overs was considered a very tough target back then, and Richard Hadlee’s twelve overs had cost a terrible 66 runs. He was also out for a duck as his side faded to 186 all out from the final ball. Fortunately NZ persevered with the all-rounder, who went on to become a cricketing legend. Amiss accumulated more than 50,000 runs in all cricket and neither nation have yet to win the game’s premier trophy as first the West Indies, then Australia, then the Asian trio learned how to succeed.

New Zealand did finally get one over England over here, in the 1983 World Cup. Hadlee RJ took 3-32 and scored 31 in 45 balls but it took Jeremy Coney’s sensible 66 not out to secure victory off the penultimate delivery from Paul Allott. The rate of 4.2 an over was hardly mesmerising, and when Stephen Fleming’s NZ beat England at Bristol in 2004, not even Andrew Flintoff’s 106 could lift the rate to five an over. Jacob Oram struck the winning boundary off….Paul Collingwood. There were 52 fours and three sixes in that game. Call me prehistoric but I’d rather that than the other way around. It made those three shots into the crowd all the more special.

England v New Zealand - Stars of the Past

With England comfortably ahead in the victory stakes over the oast four decades, it is no surprise that the stats favour English players right down the order. Nevertheless the Black Caps have fielded some excellent batsmen, bowlers and all-rounders during that period. Here is my all-star XI from the past forty years of England-New Zealand Test series to prove it.

At the top, I'll have John Wright and Mark Richardson. The former aggregated 711 runs in 11 matches, although his average was nothing special. Fellow opener Richardon toured only in 2004 yet scored more than half as many runs as Wright, averaging more than 61, well above his career average of 45-odd. Ironically his best performance, with 93 and 101, came in a losing fight at Lord's.

Stephen Fleming opened in that game but was better known as a middle-order batsman and highly successful captain, particularly in ODIs. Nevertheless he makes my team on the back of 644 runs in ten Tests. Alongside him stands one of the country's finest ever batsmen, Martin Crowe. In England his average was, for him, a meagre 40.23. However, he plundered three centuries and 845 runs spread over 13 matches. Geoff Howarth just about qualified as an all-rounder but barely took a wicket in the five-day format. Against England on these shores, he accumulated a handy 485 runs at 40.41 in the 1970s.

Brendan McCullum is the only man in the current squad to make my Eleven, combining wicket-keeping duties with his hard-hitting batsmanship. In the past decade, he amassed 412 runs in six games and should add to that tally later this month. New Zealand's best all-rounder of this or any other era must be Chris Cairns, who nudges out his dad, Lance, from my fantasy team. Cairns junior scored 343 runs while chipping in with 31 wickets at only 25 apiece. He played a major role in the few victories his nation achieved in recent times.

Of course, arguably NZ's greatest ever player was Sir Richard Hadlee. At one time the world's highest Test wicket-taker, he enjoyed great success in England, both with Nottinghamshire and his country. In 14 Tests, he captured no fewer than 70 wickets, by a mile more than any other player on either side, while contributing more than 500 runs. No centuries but four valuable late-order fifties. The three other bowlers could all bat a bit, too. Spinners Daniel Vettori and John Bracewell each provided more than 200 runs and 20 wickets in these fixtures whie Dion Nash's 34 wickets came at a lower average than even Hadlee's. Like many Black Cap stars before him, Nash retired from international cricket early, which was a shame.

In summary, I reckon this would have made a pretty nifty line-up, not only in England but also on home soil: Wright, Richardson, Fleming (*), M Crowe, Howarth, McCullum (+), C Cairns, R Hadlee, Vettori, Bracewell, Nash.

England v New Zealand - the story so far

In the forty-odd years I've been following cricket, England have played only 29 Tests at home to New Zealand and sadly 2013 will add only two more to the total. In this period, the visitors have managed a mere four victories yet they was sufficient to win two out of the nine series contested since the start of 1973.

In that year, a Geoff Boycott century and eight wickets from Geoff Arnold clinched the three-Test rubber with an innings triumph at Headingley while five years later England enjoyed a 3-0 whitewash. The First Test contained some very slow scoring, typified by NZ's second innings in which spin duo Geoff Miller and Phil Edmonds wheeled away for 68 overs, conceding just 55 runs! 21 year-old David Gower struck the game's only hundred en route to a 7-wicket success, then Boycott's batting and Ian Botham's bowling wrapped up an innings defeat. Botham (again) and Willis flattened Mark Burgess's side for 67 in the Lord's finale to complete the summer rout.

In the 1980s, New Zealand were a very different proposition, featuring the likes of Richard Hadlee, Martin Crowe, John Wright, Lance Cairns and Doug Bracewell's uncle John. Thirty years ago, England won three out of four, but in Leeds, ten wickets for Cairns and solid first innings batting from Wright, Edgar and Hadlee out-performed another Gower century to run up a five-wicket consolation prize. Three years later, England failed to win any of the three Tests played. Mike Gatting's side managed two draws but lost the series at Trent Bridge where it was Hadlee's turn to claim a ten-for, alongside a fine 68.

The 1990 series spanned the announcement of Richard Hadlee's knighthood and I recall seeing the newly-named Sir Richard amble onto the pitch at Chelmsford in the Essex tour match. Surely never has a twelfth man being cheered so heartily by an opposing crowd! In the Tests, things didn't go his way although in the Edgbaston decider, his 5-53 set up the chance of a 345-run chase to take the series 1-0. However, Devon Malcolm took 5-46 and victory went instead to Graham Gooch's team.

Gooch may have been in his 40s by 1994 and the captaincy had transferred to Mike Atherton, but the Essex man's 210 was the decisive factor in an innings victory at Trent Bridge, which proved to be the only decisive result of that three-match series. However, in 1999 New Zealand achieved the rare feat of beating England not once but twice in an away rubber. England edged the First Test thanks to that memorable 99 not out by nightwatchman Alex Tudor. However, a new Cairns, Chris having replaced dad Lance in the side, turned the series on its head. In the second game, he claimed eight wickets en route to a nine-wicket win then in the fourth his 5-31 and rapid-fire 80 laid the foundation for a decisive 83-run victory, and embarrasmment for Nasser Hussain and co. Five years on, and Fleming was still captain and in top form with the bat. Nevertheless that wasn't enough to prevent a rapidly-improving England dominating the series 3-0. Trescothick, Strauss and Harmison shone for the home side that year.

The last time New Zealand came to these shores was in 2008, by which time Daniel Vettori and Michael Vaughan were the opposing leaders. The opener was a weather-affected draw, remembered best for some typically rumbustuous striking by Brendan McCullum and Jacob Oram. Ross Taylor thumped a magnificent 154 at Old Trafford and Vettori's 5-66 put his side in a great position after day two. However, Monty Panesar delivered a devastating 6-37 to reverse fortunes and 106 from Andrew Strauss helped finish things off with a day to spare. England had really hit their stride by Trent Bridge, where the series finale was hopelessly one-sided. Jimmy Anderson (7-43) in the first innings and Ryan Sidebottom (6-67) in the second gave the big-hitters no opportunity to show their talents and the winning margin was an innings and nine runs.

What about the forthcoming contests? Well, I simply can't see New Zealand troubling England, especially with Tim Southee struggling with injury. Vettori, of course, remains out of the picture, too, so the home team ought to win comfortably. I'll focus on some of the best individual players to have participated in England-NZ Test matches in the next blog.

It had to be Hadlee

Looking back at the history of New Zealand's contests against England, one man stands out above all others: Sir Richard Hadlee. Of course, he was outstanding against just about any opponent, especially in the 1980s, a decade when the Black Caps could hold their own against anyone apart from, perhaps, the mighty West Indies.

It's 40 years ago this week when the man with giant feet made his Test debut against Pakistan (an uneventful draw) followed soon after by a first ODI at Christchurch (home win). On both occasions, the 21 year-old failed to make a good impression but by the time he retired in 1990, he was recognised as one of the all-time greats of New Zealand and one of the finest all-rounders of his generation. And that was in the era of Wasim Akram, Ian Botham, Kapil Dev and Imran Khan. Like most of the aforementioned legends, Hadlee was first and foremost a fast bowler but his batting was good enough for his average to be higher than his bowling average in both Tests and ODIs. Only Imran could match that rare achievement.

In an era when spin bowlers have smashed all Test wicket-taking records, it is curious to recall that Hadlee was the first man to claim 400. His career tally of 431 in only 86 matches was eventually eclipsed by Kapil Dev, before Courtney Walsh, Warne and Murali kicked on into the stratosphere. However, his average of 22.29 remains sensational and his ODI figure was even better. Add in the 3124 Test runs at 27 and it's easy to see how the statistics stack up in his favour. However, it was his easy-going Kiwi personality and skill at the clever fast-medium stuff at a time when fast bowlers were better known for fearsome bouncers that made Hadlee an icon for the age. That and the fact he represented one of the weaker cricketing nations.

His first limited-overs appearance against England came at Dunedin in March 1975 but he wasn't the only Hadlee playing that day. In fact, John Edrich's side were faced with three brothers, Richard and his elder siblings Barry (a batsman) and Dayle, a fellow seam and swing merchant. The young man took 2-21 in seven overs but weather intervened before he had a chance to bat. It wasn't until the eighties when the world really began to take notice. Even as the World Series Cricket superstars returned to the fold, Hadlee was as good as any of them. In a three-Test home series against Clive Lloyd's West Indies, he took a symmetrical 19 wickets at 19 apiece, including 11-102 in a thrilling one-wicket victory at Dunedin. He even carbed 68 runs in a very low-scoring game.

He saved some of his best performances for Australia, and took 77 wickets in only 12 Tests in away series against the green baggies. Such was his consistency that his only failure came on the 1976 tour of Pakistan. He made only two centuries (against the Windies and a weak Sri Lanka) but came mighty close 29 years ago at Christchurch. 'Paddles struck a rapid 99 before taking eight cheap wickets as NZ thrashed England by an innings. A one-man show if ever there was one!

Sux years later I recall being at Chelmsford for the tourists' game against Essex, a regular feature of the county calendar in those days. It was just days after Hadlee had been made 'Sir Richard' and, although he was being rested for the Lord's Test, when he came on briefly as a substitute fielder, the crowd rose as one to applaud cricket's newest knight. The following week, I think, he thumped another run-a-ball eighty-something then in his Test farewell at Edgbaston, he signed off with a five-for, albeit in a losing cause.

Sir Richard Hadlee was always particularly popular in England where he represented Nottinghamshire with distinction for many summers. He was one of the few in the past fifty years to achieve the 100 wickets/100 runs double in the first-class season and was always at or close to the top of the bowling averages. His career statistics in the first-class game are remarkable: 1,490 wickets at 18.11 alongside more than 12,000 runs at almost 32. In one-dayers, he contributed more than 5000 runs and 454 wickets but, as I wrote earlier, pure numbers don't tell the whole story. Do you reckon the current selectors will sneak him into the side against England next week? Even at the age of 61, he probably wouldn't weaken the attack too greatly.