CricInfo Home
News Home

NEWS FOCUS
Rsa in Pak
NZ in India
Zim in Aus

Domestic
Other Series

Former New Zealand cricket captain Walter Hadlee has taken issue with current national coach Steve Rixon over comments he made in an Australian newspaper about the 1949 New Zealand team.

Rixon was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald this week saying he could not understand why the 1949 side was regarded as a great side when it drew a four-test series, 0-0, against England.

``They never won a game of cricket. How can that be a great side?'' Rixon said.

He was using the team as an example of how New Zealanders view their cricket, saying he will never accept ``the culture of the New Zealanders''.

Hadlee said the 1949 team played three-day test matches and could have won a match at Lords and possibly another at the Oval but for a lack of playing time. He said the side was basically a group of club cricketers who only played three first-class matches a year up against the likes of world-class professionals Len Hutton, Cyril Washbrook, Bill Edrich, and Denis Compton.

``I'll let people judge us who saw us play,'' Hadlee said of his team which included Martin Donnelly, Bert Sutcliffe, and Tom Burtt.

Rixon was quoted as saying: ``Call it arrogance, call it confidence, the Aussies have a particular way they go about it. But rugby union's the only sport in which New Zealanders feel they're really dominant.''