Weekend Rewind: Cricket flashbacks feature Hadlee, Crowe and Cairns

Sir Richard Hadlee. Photo / NZ on Screen

Opinion

With the cricket season in full swing, NZ On Screen’s Nicky Harrop revisits some memorable tours, games and local characters.

It wouldn't be a New Zealand summer without cricket. From international tests, to social games at the park, over the years the sport has provided plenty of great local screen moments.

From 1965, this newsreel item shows highlights from the New Zealand Cricket Team's tour of India. Along with sightseeing and cooling off in the hotel pool, there's some less than cheery footage from the final test, which saw the Black Caps defeated after three consecutive draws, with India clinching the series 1-nil.

Watch NZ Cricket Team in India here:

Made in 1988, this instructional video features Sir Richard Hadlee going over the essentials of how to play cricket. Sir Richard discusses everything from bowling, batting and fielding, to the importance of fitness, warm-ups, and a well-stocked gear bag. Serving up prime examples of how to bowl the variety of different balls available to a fast bowler, the video includes some Hadlee bowling highlights. Also appearing are fellow cricketers Mark Burgess, Ian Smith, and John Wright, who offer their expert insight into batting, wicketkeeping and captaincy respectively.

Watch Hadlee on cricket here:

From 1999, Paul Holmes looks back on the life of "the Colin Meads of cricket" — the big hearted, Excalibur-wielding Lance Cairns. A cavalcade of cricket stars (Chappell, Botham, Lillee, Marsh, Hadlee, Coney, Chatfield, Crowe and son Chris) reminisce — with the remarkable sixes in his innings at Melbourne in 1983 coming in for special attention. Cairns' enthusiastic fondness for the game's social side is also celebrated, while his profound deafness and the death of his daughter in a level crossing accident provide a more serious note.

Watch This is Your Life – Lance Cairns here:

Recorded in 2006, this item sees Holmes interview another Kiwi cricket legend…and his cousin. Actor Russell Crowe is joined by the late Martin Crowe as the pair discuss baseball, Martin's famous innings of 299, and his not-so-famous bit part as Roman senator in Gladiator.

See an excerpt from Holmes' Russell and Martin Crowe interview here:

This clip from documentary The Whistle Blowers focuses on the showman of international cricket, New Zealander Billy Bowden. Included is the story of how Bowden took up umpiring when arthritis prevented him from playing, while commentators weigh in with their thoughts on his flamboyant signalling style.

See an excerpt from The Whistle Blowers here:

Black Caps (and 1992 World Cup bowlers) Chris Pringle and Willie Watson feature in this cricket-themed short film, set in Auckland's Cornwall Park. Bradman sees a social match thrown into disarray, after an errant dog swallows the ball. Australian singer Paul Kelly provides the soundtrack, with his cricketing ode of the same name.

Watch Bradman here: