AM Show sports presenter and former Blackcaps opener Mark Richardson has declared the current national cricket team “hands down” superior to the legendary side of the 1980s.
A series sweep over West Indies over the coming week may see the NZ cricketers edge past Australia to the top of ICC world test rankings for the first time.
The previous benchmark was set by the outfit from 30-40 years ago, led by Kiwi cricketing legends like Sir Richard Hadlee and and Martin Crowe, probably the first NZ team to compete - and win - consistently on the world stage.
Up until then New Zealand had battled at the top level, but Hadlee and Crowe gave them a top-class bowler and batsman among the game’s very best.
Now on the verge of history, Richardson has no hesitation in classing the current crop better overall.
“I think this current side is a more well-rounded side,” he’s told The Am Show. “I think it has more matchwinners.
“Sir Richard Hadlee is a beacon among NZ bowlers - no-one will get close to ‘Paddles’. He’s the greatest and will remain the greatest we’ve ever had, just look at the record.
“He won games singlehandedly for New Zealand. You had a good bunch of battlers with the bat and the class of Martin Crowe.”
By the end of his career, Hadlee had become the first bowler to take 400 test wickets and his 431 still ranks atop the NZ all-time list, ahead of spinner Daniel Vettori (362) and - among the current team - Tim Southee (289) and Trent Boult (269).
Crowe scored more test centuries than any NZ batsman before him - including one against every test-playing nation except South Africa - although that record has since been surpassed by Kane Williamson (22) and Ross Taylor (19).
“There is class the whole way through this current Blackcaps list,” claims Richardson, part of the Spark Sport commentary team. “There are matchwinners, there is consistency, there are records that are far superior to those of their peers in the ‘80s.
“The four-pronged seam bowling attack we have now is the greatest combined attack we’ve ever had in the history of NZ cricket.”
Behind new-ball specialists Southee and Boult, left-armer Neil Wagner has risen to second on test bowling rankings, while at 1.98m (6ft 6in), rookie Kyle Jamieson brings a new dimension to the line-up.
“He’s young, but he’s new, so you don’t throw him into the ‘great’ category,” says Richardson. “But he’s taken this very good bowling attack and given it another prong.
“We just need a matchwinning spinner… other than that, it’s an amazing side.”
That 80s generation did achieve one thing that has eluded their successors though - they defeated Australia three times in test series, including the famous 1985 success across the Tasman.
New Zealand have not beaten their rivals in a five-day series since 1990.
Join us at 11am Friday for live updates of the second Blackcaps v West Indies test
