Hadlee: gave the batsman very little time to decide how to play him © PA Photos

Richard Hadlee of New Zealand - I first came across him when he was a young tearaway fast bowler. He used to charge in and bowl as fast as he could. He had pace, but he wasn't quite accurate enough to be put in the really top echelon.

Then at a stage of his career, he was invited to play for Nottinghamshire in county cricket in England. He found in a Sunday League match - where you had to bowl of a short run because then it was 40 overs, and you had to get these over fairly quickly - that off a shortish run he could bowl nearly as quick as he tried to bowl off a long run, but he had much better control. He has always been able to swing the ball out and nip it back a bit. And I think he then became a great bowler. Because he is the best, I think, with pace. He's been able to bowl in the corridor of uncertainty, I call it, successfully, repeatedly and cause problems.

If you can get the ball on off stump, off and middle, four inches outside, on that just short-of-a-length area, and make the ball nip around, swing out, swing in a little bit, then you will cause problems and get wickets. Because the batsman - we can't get our pad as our second line of defence if it starts to go out. We have got to decide very quickly, if it is bowled at pace, on a number of things. Shall I play it? Shall I leave it? Shall I play forward? Shall I play back? Shall I hit or defend it? We have almost got six decisions to make in a fraction of a second. And if somebody's bowling it just outside off stump at pace, sooner or later, law of averages is that you are going to make a mistake.

I think he was the best corridor bowler I have ever played against or seen, at pace - not medium pace, very sharp. I worked on a principle when I played against him that he would probably bowl about eight overs with the new ball, because he conserved his energy. He has a beautiful, flowing, rhythmical action. I'd be lucky if I got one half-volley in that eight overs, and I better hit it.

I thought he was a majestic bowler.