Martin Crowe

Martin David Crowe (born September 22, 1962 in Henderson, New Zealand) is a former New Zealand cricketer. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1985, and was credited as one of the "best young batsmen in the world".^[1] Crowe represented New Zealand from the early 1980s until his retirement in 1996 as a right-handed batsman.^[1] Through the early part of his career he was also a medium-pace bowler. He captained New Zealand in the early 1990s, and during this period he brought many innovations, such as opening with spin bowlers and utilising pinch hitting batsmen. Whilst captaining in the 1992 World Cup, New Zealand lost only two matches.

Early life

Crowe was born in September 1962 in Henderson, Auckland, to Dave Crowe, a former New Zealand domestic cricketer. Crowe's brother, Jeff, also represented New Zealand at international level, and both are cousins of actor Russell Crowe.^[2]

Domestic cricket

Crowe represented four domestic cricket teams in his career, Auckland, Central Districts, Somerset and Wellington.^[1] He scored nearly 20,000 first-class runs, with 71 centuries.^[3] His average of 56.02 is one of the highest first-class averages of all time.

International career

He played 77 test matches, averaging 45.65 with the bat, including 17 centuries and 18 half-centuries. He also played 143 One Day International, averaging 38.55, and hit four centuries and 34 half-centuries.^[1] In 1991, he shared a 467-run partnership with Andrew Jones, at the time the highest partnership in Test history and in 2009 remained the third highest.^[4] Crowe was dismissed on 299, the highest innings by a New Zealander in Test history.^[5] Inzamam-ul-Haq considers him to be one of the three best batsmen he has seen along with Viv Richards and Ricky Ponting.^[6] He also made the highest number of runs in the 1992 Cricket World Cup, which New Zealand had dominated.

Coaching

After his retirement, Crowe helped develop a local variation of cricket, called "Cricket Max",^[7] and became a television commentator and pundit. He is currently a board member of the South Sydney Rabbitohs Rugby League Football Club which Russell Crowe is part owner of. He has joined the management team of Royal Challengers Bangalore, a team which participated in the Indian Premier League, a Twenty20 cricket tournament held in Apr–Jun 2008.^[8]

Notes

External links

• Player Profile: Martin Crowe from Cricinfo
• Player Profile: Martin Crowe from Cricket Archive

Martin Crowe's career performance graph.

v • d • e New Zealand squad – 1983 Cricket World Cup 1 Howarth (c) • 2 Bracewell • 3 Cairns • 4 Chatfield • 5 Coney • 6 JJ Crowe • 7 MD Crowe • 8 Edgar • 9 Hadlee • 10 Lees (wk) • 11 Smith (wk) • 12 Snedden • 13 Turner • 14 Wright

v • d • e New Zealand squad – 1987 Cricket World Cup 1 JJ Crowe (c) • 2 Boock • 3 Bracewell • 4 Chatfield • 5 MD Crowe • 6 Horne • 7 Jones • 8 Morrison • 9 Patel • 10 Rutherford • 11 Smith (wk) • 12 Snedden • 13 Watson • 14 Wright

v • d • e New Zealand squad – 1992 Cricket World Cup Semi-Finalists 1 Crowe (c) • 2 Cairns • 3 Greatbatch • 4 Harris • 5 Jones • 6 Larsen • 7 Latham • 8 Morrison • 9 Patel • 10 Rutherford • 11 Smith (wk) • 12 Su'a • 13 Watson • 14 Wright