Alfred Ernest Hadden (often spelt Haddon) (1877 – 23 December 1936) was a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

from 1906 to 1911, and played for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in the days before New Zealand played

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...

Cricket career

Alf Hadden was born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and played cricket for North Sydney before moving to

in late 1904, as the professional

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and

groundsman Groundskeeping is the activity of tending an area of land for aesthetic or functional purposes, typically in an institutional setting. It includes mowing grass, trimming hedges, pulling weeds, planting flowers, etc. The U.S. Department of Labor e ...

for the North Shore team in the Auckland competition. He made his first-class debut for Auckland against

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

in 1905–06, scoring 60 (second-top score) and 64 (top score) in a losing side. He finished the season with 281 runs at an average of 40.14. In 1906-07 he played in both matches New Zealand played against the touring MCC. New Zealand lost the first. In the second match, on a difficult pitch against hostile fast bowling by

Johnny Douglas John William Henry Tyler Douglas (3 September 1882 – 19 December 1930) was an English cricketer who was active in the early decades of the twentieth century. Douglas was an all-rounder who played for Essex County Cricket Club from 1901 to ...

and Percy May, Hadden scored 71 in the second innings after New Zealand had been 33 for 3. The ''

Auckland Star The ''Auckland Star'' was an evening daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, from 24 March 1870 to 16 August 1991. Survived by its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Star'', part of its name endures in ''The Sunday Star-Times'', created in ...

'' said it was "an exhibition of batting in which splendid defence, punctuated with free punishing powers, predominated ... emade several clinking carpet drives, which found the boundary". Percy May said Hadden's innings was the "finest recorded against us during the whole tour. His driving, cutting and hooking were equally skilful". New Zealand won by 56 runs. Hadden captained Auckland in several matches from 1906–07 to 1908–09, leading the team to victory in the first-ever match in the

Plunket Shield New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octob ...

in 1907–08, and to the retention of the Shield in 1908–09. In 1910-11 he scored 219 runs at 42.38 and took 6 wickets at 21.33 in three matches, and made his highest score of 84, the top score in the match, against

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

Personal life

A prison sentence ended Hadden's cricket career. In July 1911, while working as a tally clerk at the Auckland wharves, he was arrested after a series of cargo thefts at the wharves. At the trial it was argued in his defence that Hadden was a man of good character whose "only failing was drink", and that his accomplices had taken advantage of this weakness. In September he was sentenced to two years' jail. One of his accomplices received a nine-month sentence, and the other eight years. He served overseas as a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

in the

New Zealand Expeditionary Force The New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) was the title of the military forces sent from New Zealand to fight alongside other British Empire and Dominion troops during World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). Ultimately, the NZE ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was gassed near Messines in 1917 and spent some months recovering in England before returning to New Zealand.

References

External links

Alfred Hadden at CricketArchive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hadden, Alf 1877 births 1936 deaths New Zealand cricketers Pre-1930 New Zealand representative cricketers Auckland cricketers Cricketers from Sydney Australian emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand prisoners and detainees New Zealand military personnel of World War I

Cricket career

Personal life

See also

References

External links