10 Greatest Bowling Performances of All Time in a Test Series

#6 Richard Hadlee: 33 wickets at 12.15 vs Australia (1985)

Richard Hadlee

Richard Hadlee against Australia was like Hannibal against the Roman Empire. Hadlee, like McGrath, has the impressive record of never averaging over 30 against a single Test-playing nation. He took multiple fiver-fors against every country he played, but took 14 against Australia.

New Zealand first played Australia in 1946, lead by Richard Hadlee's father, Walter. New Zealand were routed for 42 and 54 by a strong Australian side, with William Brown declaring before his side even made 200.

It was not until 1973 that Australia deemed New Zealand worthy competition, and agreed to play them again. By then a young Richard Hadlee was in the team, and even though he showed signs of promise, he was helpless to stop his side falling to two innings defeats in three Tests.

As the two sides began to play more frequently, New Zealand became more competitive. Slowly, a rivalry began to form, one that was given a bit more edge when Greg and Trevor Chappell resorted to abusing the rules of the game to secure an ODI win with the infamous underarm delivery in 1981.

Therefore, by the mid 1980s, there was plenty of history between the sides. New Zealand were still waiting for their first Test series win against Australia, but with Australia struggling, and Hadlee in his prime, this was about to change.

In Brisbane Hadlee started with one of the all-time great performances, tearing through Australia with 9/52 in the first innings. Yet Hadlee's hunger for wickets wasn't sated, as in Australia's next innings he took 6/71.

Hadlee's lethal combination of pace and swing made the Australian batsmen seem nothing more than cannon fodder. Hadlee took five wickets in all but one of Australia's six innings across the three-match series. He ended with an incredible tally of 33 wickets, with the next best bowler being Robert Holland with 13.

In the wake of the series, Allan Border threatened to quit as captain, so dismayed was he at Australia's performances. Only months earlier Australia had been crushed by the mighty West India pace attack as the two sides had played two five-match series back to back. But Hadlee caused more damage on his own, in just three matches, than the combined total of the West Indies bowling attack.