New Zealand cricket legend Sir Richard Hadlee's 1985 masterclass against Australia in Brisbane has been dubbed the greatest test bowling performance of all time.
Writing for the sport's online bible, Cricinfo, Anantha Narayanan used a variety of criteria in determining Hadlee's virtuoso spell of 9/52 at the Gabba as number one, including quality of opposition batsmen, when they were dismissed and bowling accuracy.
"My performance analysis is based on nine parameters," Narayanan told Brendan Telfer on Radio LIVE's Saturday Sport. "Number of wickets captured is just one."
"The result of the match is very important and the fact that he dismissed the top batsmen for very low scores.
"Hadlee dismissed Andrew Hilditch for 0, Allan Border for one, Greg Ritchie for eight and Greg Matthews for two. He also got rid of each of the three batsmen who went past 30 just when they looked like taking Australia out of trouble."
The performance was the jewel in Hadlee's crown through a period when he terrorized batsmen across the globe, becoming the first test bowler to ever breach the 400-wicket mark.
New Zealand went on to win the test match by an emphatic innings and 41 runs.
Narayanan also employs a complex pitch index rating to factor in conditions and whether they favoured the batsmen or bowlers. The Gabba pitch that day slightly leaned towards the batting side, he said.
"Of the nine parameters, Sir Richard ticks all of the eight boxes very comfortably."
The only area Hadlee didn't score highly was in regards to the quality of the opposition.
"Australia were not a very strong team, but this was an away match in a country where New Zealand had not tasted much success," noted Narayanan.
Also featuring in the list are England's Stuart Broad for his 8/15 outing in 2015 Ashes series, and Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan's 8/70 against England in 2006.
One notable omission is Australian leg spinner Shane Warne who Narayanan says was penalised by virtue of his prolific supporting cast, which included the likes of quick Glenn McGrath.
Hadlee is currently recovering from bowel cancer, undergoing successful surgery to remove a tumour last month. He's receiving chemotherapy treatment as a precaution but is expected to make a full recovery.
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