Wasim akram or Richard Hadlee in test cricket

Akram

2898 runs at an average of 22, with a high score of 258 no
414 wickets at an average of 23

Hadlee

3124 runs at an average of 27 high score of 151 no
431 wickets at an average of 21

who is better?

i no many will say wasim but hadlee was a great skipper as well, i purely think hadlee was the better player but what does everyone think?

I'd go with Hadlee as well.
Bowled with less support from the other end, fantastic record virtually everywhere he bowled (Pakistan being the exception ironically, though he only played 3 matches there)
Batting was slightly better as well.

Both very fine players. The pure stats suggest Hadlee was better, but factor in that he played his home tests in a country where conditions often suit swing and seam bowling while Wasim had to contend with the flat Pakistani wickets and so had to master the art of reverse swing. Factoring this in, it suggests that as bowlers they were very much on a par (RH the better new ball bowler, WA better with the old ball) but Hadlee was the better batsman - therefore for Tests I'd just favour Hadlee (assuming we are talking about selection into a normal strength team - if there was good bowling support then Akram's leftyness might swing selection his way).

For ODI circket, it would definitely be Wasim though...

hadlee's captaincy was very good as well

Hadlee's father was the good captain (and administrator) - Hadlee himself never actually did a lot of it. Plus he was so driven that he had the odd fall-out with team mates. At one stage he and (captain) Jeremy Coney got to the point where they were passing messages to each other on the field via John Wright
e.g. - "John, could you tell the captain I'd like another slip" etc.

It's a tough call between Hadlee and Akram - Hadlee was more consistent, but Wasim on a good day was probably better.

I played a club match against a High School Old Boys team including Hadlee when he was in his mid-late 40s, I'm quite proud of the fact that I didn't get out to the 2 balls I faced from him. I was 12th man for the club 2nd grade side so I got to fill in for the Presidents Graders (Presidents is a golden-oldies grade, you're allowed 2 players under 35 years old in the XI) on the next field over. Hadlee hit a century in 15 overs for them batting, and took 6 wickets with the ball. I was left stranded on 8 not out, after coming in at #8, such was the collapse.

Earlier on one of our openers had cover driven him for 4. Hadlee went back to his mark (all of 10 paces), ambled in and then whistled a bouncer bast the batsman's nose.

For me Akram was the better bowler, Sir Richard was the better all rounder.

Sir Richard was the heart beat of the NZ side, which wasn't very good.

Akram had Imran Khan and Waqar Younis in his team.

Akram was the captain's dream bowler though. During his youth, pure pace, with the mastery of swing and reserve swing. No one has bowled reserved the ball better than Akram.

What let Akram down was he didn't fulfill his batting potential, he could easily have averaged 30+ with the bat.

Akram

suprised i had some people agree with me about hadlee

Kiwireddevil - awesome annecdote, thank you. I love the way that Hadlee was still so aggressive in a more 'friendly' environment.

Akram, he had everything. Plus Ive seen more of him so I guess that clouds my judgement

Twitchey wrote:Kiwireddevil - awesome annecdote, thank you. I love the way that Hadlee was still so aggressive in a more 'friendly' environment.

No worries. Reading back I didn't mention that he took our last 4 wickets in 1 over, all caught at slip (though given that our 9, 10 and 11 had a combined age of 200 )

Hadlee averaged more than 5 wickets pir match, he was a bettr bat as well. But then Akram was a comlete bowler, and he had to deal with the flat sub-continent roads more often. Akram wins hands down in ODIs, Hadlee and he are equal in tests.

As a bowler I would say Akram, all-round game Hadlee. Both terrific bowlers so it's a close call. Just felt that Akram had more control and in the matter of a couple of hours could change a match with his marvelous swing bowling.

thanks for all the comments guys