NZ Bowlers on the Lords’ Honours Board

The history of the New Zealand department of the Lord’s bowling honours board is not quite as varied as the batting wall. Just the four of them in fact.

There are some familiar faces in there though.

Richard Hadlee 5/84. 1978

A heroic effort on the third day saw Hadlee, with help from Collinge who had been flown out for this test, reduce England from 180/2 to all out for 289; giving the tourists a 50 run first innings lead.

NZ then went on to be dismissed for 67, third innings capitulations are not so new, but that should not overshadow Hadlee’s arrival in England.

 

Richard Hadlee 5/93. 1983

The first test after the first away win against England.  It all started so well too. Chris Smith (South African) on debut out in the first over.  But England made 326 with Hadlee getting his five-for.

Despite playing two spinners, neither were called on to bowl in over 120 overs in this innings.

The 1980s were a bit odd at times.

Richard Hadlee 6/80. 1986

That Illford 2^nd XI test.  Hadlee was at his best in the first innings. Top order, middle order, and then the tail.

It wasn’t so easy in the second dig though; 1 for 78.  The strange thing about that innings was that Evan Gray bowled 46 overs.

The 1980s were a bit odd at times.

Dion Nash 6/76 & 5/93. 1994

Nash played 32 tests for New Zealand and was a big part of the resurgence of the national side in the late 90s and early 2000s.  But he will always be best remembered for this test.

Early on in his career he totally owned this test, fronting an attack that was not the best we have ever fielded. That first innings performance was inspired, as he kept coming back at England, as they just scraped past the follow-on mark.

The final day saw much the same as he bowled the tourists to within a couple of wickets of what would have been a remarkable victory; and with minimal support.

He also added 56 with the bat; just for fun.

Chris Cairns 6/77. 1999

How could you ever get sick of watching this?

In fact, there’s possibly not a lot more that needs to be said.  England 186 on the first day set up this victory, and Cairns’s confidence led the effort. When Read feel, they had lost 4 for 22, and Hussain had broken his finger.

Like Horne, Cairns goes on the Honours Board at Lord’s victorious.

Daniel Vettori 5/69. 2008

The start of a new era; Vettori’s first test in charge.  For all the flak he has received about not bowling sides out in the fourth innings of a test, he has always been at his best earlier on in a match when there is more bounce about.

This bag started with trapping Piertesen LBW, as you would expect, and he ran through the middle order reducing England to a pretty ordinary lead.

Tim Southee 6/50. 2013

Like Richard Hadlee in 1978 this was an Honours Board entry quickly overtaken by a subsequent New Zealand collapse.  67 in 78; 68 in 13.  Botham in the former, Broad in the latter.

And while Southee’s batting keeps getting attention, and he should never be considered a test number 8, his bowling on days 3 and 4 confirmed the fact that he has arrived as the bowling spearhead.  Hostile yet clever he brought the tourists back into the match late on the third day with a spell of ball on the end of string goodness not unlike Hadlee himself.

It continued on what turned out to be the final morning too; with a catch thrown in for good measure.  All this on the back of a 4/58 return in the first innings.  He is up to 81 test wickets at the end of this test….

New Zealand batsmen on the Honours Board