James Anderson is more effective in second phase of his career: Richard Hadlee

Former legendary New Zealand cricketer Sir Richard Hadlee feels that there are some similarities between him and the England pacer James Anderson as both of them emerged more effective during the second phase of their career.

Hadlee, the first bowler to pick up 400 Test wickets ended up with 431 in his 86-Test career while Anderson currently has 462 wickets in 118 Test matches. “Anderson does swings it both ways and has good control, and he has over 400 Test wickets now and his average is coming down. It is well under 30 (28.17) now and it was above that for a long time. He is probably more effective now than his first part of his career, which is like me,” he said during a promotional event.

He also praised the New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson and said that he has all that it takes to become the “best ever batsman” to have emerged from the country. When asked to compare Williamson with his predecessor Brendon McCullum, Williamson, he said, “Brendon played an outstanding brand of cricket. Attacking as a batsman, player, and captain, attacking in the field. Always looking to try new things, he had an aura about him and a tremendous amount of respect.”

“It was always about team first and not individual performances, Kane Williamson will do exactly the same but in a different style. He (Williamson) will play attacking cricket in his own way and give his players, to back themselves and be themselves. Kane supports his bowlers with attacking field, could be the time where he might be defensive, but that’s the nature of the game. But Kane is going to be around for a long time and he is being given the responsibility of captaincy at a young age and that was same as Stephen Fleming. Fleming is one our great captains and finest players,” the 65-year-old said.

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“Captaincy or not, he (Williamson) is going to do some wonderful things in the game and players will enjoy playing under him and what we can see at early stages, he is in control. He will be challenged like anyone else. When things don’t go well, that will be the test to make further judgement. At the time, he has started well,” said Hadlee.

He pointed out the four outstanding batsmen of the current generation, but rated AB de Villiers as the number one batsmen. “Those four players (Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Steven Smith and Williamson) are outstanding batsmen and a joy to watch. To me Ab De Villiers is the number one batsman in the world today in all formats all the game,” he concluded.

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