WELLINGTON: New Zealand bowling great Sir Richard Hadlee is to undergo another operation after tests showed a secondary cancer was found in his liver, his wife said on Monday.

Hadlee’s family revealed last month that he had a tumour removed after being diagnosed with bowel cancer and was expected to make a full recovery after a course of chemotherapy.

Dianne Hadlee provided an update on the 67-year-old’s condition on Monday.

“This week, Richard will undergo further surgery after secondary cancer was discovered in his liver,” she said in a statement. “Medical advice is that it’s still at a very early stage and is operable. Once he has recovered from the operation, Richard will undergo further chemotherapy treatment.”

Hadlee had the first surgery after a routine checkup discovered the tumour.

Hadlee is regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time and was the first player to take 400 Test wickets and held the record for most wickets until India’s Kapil Dev surpassed it in 1994.

By the time he retired in 1990, he had played 86 Tests and taken 431 wickets at 22.29. He was also a hard-hitting batsman with a Test career total of 3,124 runs, including two centuries and 15 half-centuries, at an average of 27.16.

Published in Dawn, July 17th , 2018