Pioneering cricketer Martin Crowe, widely acknowledged as New Zealands greatest batsman who laid the foundations for Twenty20 cricket, was hailed a hero today after he died of cancer aged 53.
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His highest score was 299 against Sri Lanka in Wellington in 1991, while he was player of the tournament at the 1992 World Cup, scoring 456 runs in nine matches.
The stylish batsman made his worldwide debut in 1982 and played 77 Tests before retiring in 1995. Now you can rest easy my friend.
Current New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson said Crowe’s death was a shock.
Crowe is survived by his wife Lorraine Downes and his daughter Emma. He went on to reach triple figures on 17 occasions, the most by any New Zealander in Test cricket.
After his retirement in 1996, Crowe became active in the media, heading the New Zealand’s Sky broadcast of cricket as a commentator.
New Zealand Cricket Chief Executive David White paid tribute to Crowe’s contribution to the game.
New Zealand Cricket issued a short statement acknowledging Crowe’s death on their website on Thursday 3 March and a spokesman said they were honouring his family’s wishes for privacy. Crowe was one of New Zealand’s most famous sportsmen after leading his country’s cricket team in the early 1990s. “One of the game’s greats on and off the field” – former Australia batsman Damien Martyn. Crowe blamed the stress of worldwide cricket and the rigours of touring for his later health problems, saying “travels during my cricket career, suffering salmonella and glandular fever, have compromised me”. An inspiration to me and so many others.
Crowe was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2012, and although he announced a year later he was free of the disease, it returned in September of 2014.
“When he had completed chemotherapy he looked a shadow of the young man I once knew”, said Sir John Graham, Crowe’s headmaster at Auckland Grammar and a former All Black captain. His famous trick was Dipak Patel with the new ball, which turned out to be a master stroke, a move that was tailor-made to extract advantage out of New Zealand pitches and it stunned the opposition with a bit of drama as well.
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“I will miss him dearly as over the last couple of years there were messages of encouragement between us both as we battled our own demons”. He also was innovative enough to open the bowling in ODI cricket with spin, introducing offspinner Dipak Patel in the first 15 overs during the 1992 World Cup.
