It seems doubly cruel that, just a few weeks after Brendon McCullum, New Zealand’s star of the past decade retired from Test cricket, the country has lost possibly its greatest ever batsmen to cancer.
Martin Crowe may not have been the model cricketer, but when he was in his pomp in the Eighties and Nineties, he seemed to be blessed with the blend of natural batsmanship and entertaining strokeplay. I didn’t see much of him, but he divided the opinions of Somerset fans like me after the board opted to sign him as our overseas player at the expense of the legendary Viv Richards. Yet Crowe was so good that, at the time, I actually sided with the establishment, believing that Viv – still my all-time sporting idol – had become too lazy at Somerset and the Kiwi was likely to be a better bet in our middle-order.
Martin’s career Test aggregate of 5,444 runs doesn’t read like the statistics of a global superstar. However, he played only 77 matches before chronic knee injury brought early retirement. His average of 45.36 looks modest but when you consider he played in a golden age for fast bowlers like Marshall, Garner, Ambrose, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Donald, that was pretty impressive.
Crowe’s overall first-class average of more than 56 is perhaps a more impressive testament to his batting prowess. He scored more than 70 centuries, reaching three figures almost once every two occasions he passed fifty. Few can match that. He even contributed more than a hundred wickets with his medium pace, and was a nifty slip fielder to boot.
His one-day record was not quite of the same high order yet he was the player of the 1992 World Cup and is credited with being an innovative skipper, paving the way for the tactical intelligence characterised by McCullum and Stephen Fleming.
Big Bren has since eclipsed Crowe’s previous NZ Test innings record of 299 as well as his run tally. Yet he has always acknowledged the immense contribution his predecessor made in that purple patch for the Black Caps when Crowe and Richard Hadlee were up there with the world’s greatest players. I wrote recently that McCullum had passed the baton to Kane Williamson, and at the current rate of improvement, I’d expect the latter to rival Crowe in the New Zealand history books. However, this particular baton wasn’t even invented until Martin bestrode the cricket stage in the late 80s. RIP.
