Top 5 seam-bowling all-rounders of all time

#4 Sir Richard Hadlee

Richard Hadlee

He is, without a doubt, the finest cricketer to have ever emerged from New Zealand and among the best swing bowlers to have ever played the game. Throughout the mid to late 1970s and the 1980s, Richard Hadlee was one of the world's leading bowlers and picked up 431 wickets in just 86 Test matches. He held the record for taking the highest number of Test match wickets for some years as well.

In 115 one-dayers, he took 158 wickets at an average of 21.56. However, what is often forgotten is that he was one of the leading seam-bowling all-rounders of his era as well and scored two centuries and 15 half-centuries in Test cricket.

Hadlee's average of 27.16 might seem a modest one but it needs to be remembered that he batted lower down the order for most of his career but even then, managed to prove himself to be an excellent all-rounder across the two formats of the game.