Top 10 players of all time from Canterbury

#1 Sir Richard Hadlee

Hadlee is one of the greatest all-rounders in the history of the game

Quite simply, the greatest player in New Zealand Cricket history, Sir Richard Hadlee carried the team's fortunes on his own shoulders throughout his career and was the first player in the history of the game to reach the landmark of 400 Test wickets.

Apart from his bowling skills, Hadlee was an accomplished lower-order batsman who loved to hit the ball big and is counted as one among the four great all-rounders of the 1980s along with Kapil Dev, Ian Botham, and Imran Khan.

Hadlee made his first-class debut for Canterbury in 1971/72 and made his first Test appearance in 1973. Though he didn't make an instant impression with either bat or ball, Hadlee's 11-wicket haul in the win over India in 1976 established his place in the side and there was no looking back since.

Hadlee reserved his best for Australia, including his devastating spell of 9/52 in the first Test of New Zealand's three-match series in 1985/86 at Brisbane. Hadlee's 33 wickets in 3 matches helped New Zealand to their first-ever series win on Australian soil.

In ODIs, Hadlee was the first player to complete the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets and retired from international cricket as the leading wicket-taker in Tests with 431 wickets to his name.

Knighted in 1990 for his services to cricket, Canterbury honoured Hadlee by naming the north stand at the AMI stadium in Christchurch after Hadlee.