Sir Richard Hadlee recalls with precision the day he made the decision that helped transform him from a very good bowler into one of the finest pace bowlers who ever lived. "I was playing county cricket for Nottinghamshire," he recalls. "It was after a Sunday League match at Trent Bridge in 1980. We were only allowed 15-yard run-ups in that competition and right at the end of that season, against Lancashire, I took 6 for 12 using that run."

It was, he says, a turning point in his career that gave him a decade more of bowling and one of torment for batsmen. He was 29 years old.

The experience of Hadlee is important for England because it is directly relevant to how the career of Steve Finn is developing. It has taken three years for the England bowling coach, David Saker, to persuade Finn to abandon his long run and experiment with a shorter version, and the results have been beyond encouraging. Finn looks a different bowler: fast, strong of action, and controlled. He is, and will be, a handful, but he admits that it took a deal of convincing for him to abandon his instinct and give it a go.

Meeting Hadlee and listening to him would reinforce this, although the great man is somewhat on the periphery of New Zealand cricket these days ("Not been to a Test for five years or one-dayer for three") and has a busy work schedule, so arranging such a thing has proved difficult. He is though an admirer of Finn, and Jimmy Anderson ("beautiful bowler").

Not having such a meeting is a pity, not just because of his impeccable credentials but because he has the capacity to convey the simplicity of his art in absolute clarity, so that no one who listened could fail to absorb the wisdom. But to start with the credentials first, which saw him take 431 Test wickets for New Zealand in 86 matches, a world record at the time, at 22.29 runs apiece.

In Brisbane, against Australia, he took the first nine wickets of the innings and then held a fine running catch to deprive himself of the 10th but give the young spinner Vaughan Brown his first Test wicket. For 49 of those matches, when he was in his absolute pomp, he saw the reassuring figure of Ian Smith behind the stumps.

"It was," says Smith, "easy keeping to him. I had to concentrate more because he was likely to get anyone out at any time. He was amazingly consistent and a great communicator with the keeper, so concise that he relied on me to tell him if his wrist or fingers were right; if his arm was at 12 o'clock or a few minutes past. It may seem minimal but it was all geared to ensuring that the seam came down absolutely perfectly. It was sheer poetry. There was not a single batsman he did not trouble. Keeping to him was just exhilarating."

Hadlee, right, was an inquistor, Torquemada: perhaps no pace bowler has asked such consistently searching questions of batsmen. He did not brutalise or bludgeon, but instead dissected their techniques slice by slice until there was nothing left. And, he will tell you, he did it with a simplicity of purpose and technique, but one that took years to hone both physically and mentally.

Just listen, then, to Hadlee on the art of pace bowling and learn: truly it requires no further comment. "The short run-up was the best bowling decision I ever made," he says. "It gave me an extra 10 years in the game (I had 19 years in all at international level) and I was three times more effective in performance and results than when I was on the long run.

"The short run allowed me to be more explosive at delivery and it was easier to hold my position instead of falling away. It happened very quickly – 15 paces and then deliver. My head position was the key – like batsmen, straight and still with eyes level at delivery and my head and eyes went towards the batsman allowing my body to follow it down and off the pitch, with body momentum heading in the right direction."

"That success in the Sunday League made me think – I was having a few injury niggles. The shortened run lightened the load on the body because rhythm, timing and co-ordination became more important than brute strength and power at delivery – there had been a tendency to force the ball down the pitch instead of bowling it. I had a more relaxed run-up that became far more precise and consistent – less could go wrong in 15 paces than 25 paces. It was very comfortable and something that I should have done earlier.

"The perception is such that if you are a new-ball bowler, people, players, media and others expect fast bowlers to have a long run – it is all part of the spectacle. However common sense tells us to do what is necessary and right and the only person who needs to be satisfied is yourself. I copped a bit of flak from the media and some players because the perception for them was that I was taking short cuts – I think I can now refer them to the record books.

"I did not lose much pace if any. I could still sit batsmen on their backsides, but my greatest asset was that I got closer to the stumps to bowl and I had better control of swing and seam – it was easier to test the batmen because my channels and lines were as simple as ABC – straight lines from the top of the run to the crease, deliver the ball to the other end to hit the top of off-stump or thereabouts with a margin of error.

"Stick to the basics, keep it simple, don't be too clever with too many variations and try to hit top of off-stump. It is a bowler's job to interrogate the batsman; to make life difficult and unpleasant for him by pitching the ball in a place where he does not want it. Stick with your 'go-to ball' and use variations sensibly and do not overdo them.

"It is about being consistent and denying the batsman cheap runs (by giving away four-balls). That's about all I ever did. It may be boring bowling dot balls but as Glenn McGrath said, 'If bowling dot balls and maidens is boring I will take that any day if I can get over 500 Test wickets.' He was the master at what he did in the modern era. It was so easy and simple – there is no need to complicate things even though computers may give you other information. Think for yourself and then implement your thoughts."