The 3rd March 2016 will be remembered as one of the saddest day in the cricket world as on this day cricket lost former New Zealand skipper Martin Crowe, one of the greatest cricketing mind in the history. He was one of the best captains in not only the New Zealand cricket but also international cricket. The Auckland inhabitant was perhaps the best Kiwi batsman of his generation.
On Thursday morning, at the age of 53, Martin Crowe passed away after a long battle with cancer. There are many interesting moments in his short life.
Some of those are described briefly in the following.
Interesting facts about Martin Crowe:
1. Martin Crowe belonged to a cricketing family where his father Dave Crowe played domestic cricket and elder brother Jeff Crowe had served New Zealand in the international cricket. Jeff Crowe is currently well-known match-referee in international cricket. Apart from this, the Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe is Martin Crowe’s cousin.
2. Martin Crowe holds the record for most Test centuries by a New Zealand player. He scored 17 Test centuries which none of Kiwi batsmen has broken till date.
3. Till date, Martin Crowe is the only batsman who is dismissed on 299 runs in Test cricket. Martin Crowe was very close to becoming the first Blackcaps batsman to hit a triple century in Test cricket, but that went in vain after his dismissal on 299.
4. Martin Crowe and his teammate Andrew Jones amassed 467 run partnership for the 3rd wicket for New Zealand innings in a Test match against Sri Lanka at Wellington in 1991. It was the highest partnership for any wicket in Test cricket at that time which was broken later. Presently, it is the 3rd highest partnership for any wicket in Test cricket while it is also the 2nd highest partnership for the 3rd wicket in Test cricket.
5. Martin Crowe became the first player to receive “Man of the Tournament” award in the ICC Cricket World Cup. He had scored 456 runs in the whole tournament. The award was introduced for the first time in the 1992 Cricket World Cup and it is running since in the Cricket World Cup. Also, Martin Crowe is the only captain to receive the award in the ICC CWC until date.
6. Martin Crowe is especially well-known for his great cricketing mind. During the 1992 CWC, he brought on a spinner in the bowling attack in the very first over.
7. After retirement, Martin Crowe became a television commentator and a cricket expert. He was Chief Cricket Officer of RCB (Royal Challenger Bangalore) in IPL for a short time.
8. Martin Crowe invented “Cricket Max” – one of the shortest formats of cricket. It is a very short form of one-day cricket where every team permitted two innings and each inning has content maximum 10 overs.
9. Martin Crowe made a surprise comeback in the competitive cricket in 2011, after 15 years of his retirement. He represented Wellington Legends XI against Canterbury Invitation XI in a domestic T20 match where he was captain of his side and made only 6 runs in that game. It was his last competitive cricket match.
10. In 1985, Martin Crowe became a Wisden Cricketer of the year.
11. On 28th February 2015, Martin Crowe was honoured into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
12. Martin Crowe was also active in rugby. He was a board member of South Sydney Rabbitohs Rugby League, whose co-owner is Russell Crowe. Martin Crowe also set up 1st XV Rugby on the Rugby Channel.
13. Apart from these, he has also written two books. Those books were “Out on a Limb: My Own Story” and “Martin Crowe’s Winning Cricket: A Guide for Aspiring Cricketers”.