News about Sir Richard Hadlee, 66, fighting a cancer battle stunned the cricketing globe just like he amazed cricket lovers in 1991 when it was revealed that his irregular heartbeat required an open heart surgery.

What is it about cricketers and cancer I wondered, when I read a tweet about Hadlee's condition. Among the fast bowlers, I thought about his Nottinghamshire South African teammate Clive Rice, who succumbed to the illness in 2015, England's Fred Trueman, West Indian warrior Malcolm Marshall and the burly Australian Max Walker.