On 12 November 1988 at Bangalore, Richard Hadlee took his 374th Test wicket — overtaking Ian Botham as the leading wicket-taker in Test history.
Hadlee had passed 300 wickets in 1986 and was the obvious successor to Botham as Test cricket's leading wicket-taker.
He arrived in India needing two wickets; at Bangalore he equalled and passed Botham in successive overs.
Hadlee had been chasing Ian Botham's record of 373 Test wickets through the 1987-88 series in Australia, where he was twice held up one wicket short. He arrived in India in November 1988 needing two wickets. At Bangalore in the first Test he removed Arun Lal early, equalling Botham, and then dismissed Manoj Prabhakar for the record-breaking 374th wicket. Both deliveries were trademark Hadlee — outswing from a tight, repeatable action delivered at military medium-fast pace. He was 37 at the time, in his 19th year of Test cricket, and bowling for a New Zealand side that had no other Test-class seamer for most of his career. He finished his career on 431 wickets, retiring in 1990 after a five-wicket haul at Edgbaston in his last Test. Botham, ever generous, sent a telegram congratulating him: 'About time, you old goat'.
Removes Arun Lal — equals Botham at 373
Removes Manoj Prabhakar — record 374th
Mid-pitch handshake with Indian batsmen
Botham telegram of congratulations
Career closes on 431 wickets in 1990
1987-88
Held up at 372 in Australia
Nov 12, 1988
374th wicket at Bangalore
1990
Retires on 431 wickets
1994
Kapil Dev passes Hadlee's record
“About time, you old goat.”
“I had been chasing it for 18 months. To do it in India was special.”
Hadlee played for two more years; the record was eventually broken by Kapil Dev in 1994.
A milestone earned by 19 years of unrelenting accuracy and fitness — and a New Zealand record that has never since been threatened.
The 374th wicket is a milestone in cricket's gradual recognition of fast-bowling longevity. Hadlee's 431 stood as the world record until Kapil Dev passed it in 1994.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.