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Martin Crowe: Ex-New Zealand captain dies of cancer at 53

Last updated on .From the section Cricketcomments94

New Zealand great Martin Crowe remembered

Former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe has died of cancer at the age of 53.

The ex-Black Caps batsman had been suffering from lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system, for a second time.

He received the all-clear from the disease in 2012 but confirmed in September 2014 that it had returned.

Auckland-born Crowe is widely regarded as one of New Zealand's best players, scoring 17 centuries and 5,444 runs in 77 Tests at an average of 45.36. external-link

His family announced his death "with heavy hearts", adding that he "passed away peacefully" on Thursday.

Crowe captained the Kiwis in 16 Test matches and his highest score was 299 against Sri Lanka in Wellington in 1991.

Named one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1985, he was player of the tournament at the 1992 World Cup, scoring 456 runs in nine matches.

Obituary: Martin Crowe - cricket's tortured genius

Crowe's batting in numbers
MatchesRunsAverage100s/50sHigh score
Tests77544445.3617/18299
ODIs143470438.554/34107*
First-class24719,60856.0271/80299

Crowe also had a spell with English county side Somerset between 1984 and 1988, and scored a total of 19,608 first-class runs in his career.

He retired in 1996 with a knee injury and went on to become a television commentator and author.

He also helped develop Cricket Max - a precursor to Twenty20.

Martin Crowe
Martin Crowe averaged 45.36 from 77 Test matches for New Zealand

In 2014, after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, Crowe said he could "happily live with" New Zealand's World Cup final against Australia being potentially the last match he ever saw.

"My precarious life ahead may not afford me the luxury of many more games to watch and enjoy," he wrote on ESPN Cricinfo. external-link"So this is likely to be it. The last, maybe, and I can happily live with that."

His older brother, Jeff, played 39 Tests for New Zealand between 1983 and 1990, while he was a cousin of the Hollywood actor Russell Crowe.

Analysis

BBC Sport's chief sports writer Tom Fordyce:

Martin Crowe grew up with cricket in his blood - his father played first-class cricket, his mother was the outstanding female player of her generation, his brother played Test cricket alongside him - and as a batsman he was a classicist, with a seemingly natural ability to play every shot in the book with a combination of grace and timing that caused the purists to swoon as much as bowlers to toil.

As a man, he was more revolutionary than that timeless style would ever had indicated - changing the face of one-day cricket with his innovations as his country's captain at the 1992 World Cup, coming up with a format that prefigured the start of T20, going through a rebirthing programme to help him deal with his frequent bouts of depression, marrying a former Miss Universe. Singular in his chosen sport, atypical beyond it.

'An inspiration'

Stephen Fleming
Former captain Stephen Fleming
All Blacks
The New Zealand rugby team tweeted their commiserations
Damien Martyn
Former Australia batsman Damien Martyn
Scott Styris
Former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris

Comments

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94 comments

  • Comment posted by amissahit, at 10:15 3 Mar 2016

    Osiris there is a HYS for people to share condolences on a great cricketer. Give the anti BBC tack a rest and respect the subject. Martin Crowe fabulous batsman brought pleasure to all who watched him. RIP

  • Comment posted by welshloiner, at 10:21 3 Mar 2016

    RIP. I met him briefly once and he was an absolute gent. Far too young.

  • Comment posted by A right wing pigs ear, at 10:16 3 Mar 2016

    5. Posted by Osiris

    'RIP and all that, but why a HYS on this and not on the French border scaremongering?'

    Utterly disrespectful. Go elsewhere for all our sakes, dismal troll.

    A great cricketer and a sad loss to the game.

  • Comment posted by XTStevie1872, at 10:16 3 Mar 2016

    An absolute legend.........

    RIP fella

  • Comment posted by U15438703, at 10:16 3 Mar 2016

    Osiris - shut up you idiot.

    Have respect

  • Comment posted by Den Skitne Gaffelen, at 12:02 3 Mar 2016

    I grew up watching him; he was a very good player and by all accounts, a very decent guy off the pitch too.

    Very sad to hear of his passing at such a young age.

    To those complaining about this having an HYS and Calais and such not... this is on BBC Sport. If you're not interested in sport, then feel free not to troll on the sport HYS.

  • Comment posted by MoonInUranus, at 12:37 3 Mar 2016

    I don't know what's worse - the number of trolls who specifically come on the thread to point out they don't like cricket and haven't heard of Crowe or 'modern' journalism, which essentially means it's fine to take up half the article with Twitter screenshots.

    Actually, the first is worse, the latter is just part of the ongoing slide in quality.

    RIP Martin - a fabulous player.

  • Comment posted by BigSteve, at 11:32 3 Mar 2016

    @43. Qcumbor. You are a disrespectful, horrible excuse for a human. A cricketing great has passed away, if you had nothing to say then move along. Get a grip.
    RIP Martin Crowe.

  • Comment posted by JamTay1, at 12:26 3 Mar 2016

    So a border control issue is deemed more important (by some idiots) than Cancer, one of the worse killers of modern times.

    Very sad story, a great cricketer and ahead of his time with his playing style.

  • Comment posted by PosterMeerkat, at 10:19 3 Mar 2016

    An elegant batsman and an excellent and unbiased commentator - he will be missed.

  • Comment posted by Stuart, at 11:14 3 Mar 2016

    At a time when we are hearing of the advances in cancer treatment this week with trials of new therapies, this reminds us why these trials and research are so important.

  • Comment posted by FleetJackHobbs, at 10:13 3 Mar 2016

    RIP Martin Crowe: condolences to family and close friends.

  • Comment posted by charlieboy, at 13:06 3 Mar 2016

    People who come on here arguing politics should be ashamed of themselves. We should be mourning the very sad loss of a fine cricketer at far too early an age. Please stick to the theme of this article, go and argue politics elsewhere. No place for you here.

  • Comment posted by U15438703, at 12:23 3 Mar 2016

    @66 cucumber & others

    go troll elsewhere please

    A cricketing great - something some clearly are unable to grasp

  • Comment posted by Complete and utter horse, at 11:09 3 Mar 2016

    RIP to a man who stood out in an average team. He must have died proud at how well respected NZ now are on the world stage.

  • Comment posted by Johnap, at 10:07 3 Mar 2016

    Very sad news. I was lucky enough to play against him in a local league match - pure class. Condolences to the family - RIP.

  • Comment posted by Linense, at 13:16 3 Mar 2016

    What fun can you get trolling a story like this? Shame on you.

  • Comment posted by U15787901, at 11:07 3 Mar 2016

    30. Posted by OnKopOfTheWorld
    on
    6 minutes ago
    Sad to hear of his passing, but I didn't want a notification about this story late at night (I believe it had gone midnight in the UK). Like several others on here, I'd not heard of him.//
    If you have never heard of him, what does it matter what time his death was announced? NZ is many hours ahead of GMT.
    Great player.Condolences to his family.

  • Comment posted by Nick, at 10:48 3 Mar 2016

    Elegant with the bat on the field during his playing career & eloquent off the field with his writing on the game in recent years. A supreme talent taken away from us & his family too soon! RIP MC

  • Comment posted by Craigeyboy, at 10:44 3 Mar 2016

    Martin Crowe and Richard Hadlee were the 2 great New Zealand cricketers of my childhood.
    Very sad for Martin to die so young.
    Rest In Peace.

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