While much media attention has been given to the tributes being paid by the Australian cricketers to the unfortunate premature passing of their team mate Philip Hughes this year, we should not forget that the New Zealanders had a stalwart of the game close to death for whom they were no doubt playing, former captain Martin Crowe.
The World Cup final was expected to be the last game of cricket Crowe will watch. Crowe had written on ESPN Cricinfo website that he was very close to death due to a terminal blood disease.
“My precarious life ahead may not afford me the luxury of many more games to watch and enjoy,” said Crowe.”This is likely to be it. I can happily live with that.”
Crowe, was a wonderfully gifted and elegant batsman who is the second highest Test run-scorer in New Zealand history with 5,444 runs at an average of 45.36. He captained the Kiwis in the 1992 World Cup. Sir Richard Hadlee once said that Crowe was the only man whose wash bag was bigger than his kitbag!
Crowe had worked with some of the Black Caps players contesting the final, including batsmen Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill. It was the form of these two batting lynchpins that boosted Crowe’s spirits in the final days of his battle with illness.
“To see the two sons I never had, Ross Taylor and Marty Guptill, run out in black, in sync with their close comrades, drawing on all their resolve and resilience, will be mesmerically satisfying,” he told Cricinfo.
It is a shame that sport has to have one winner in contests such as we witnessed on Sunday as both Philip Hughes and Martin Crowe deserved to be remembered by their respective teams. Crowe may still be with us for the time being but those who saw him bat will never forget his elegance. May his legacy live on and his suffering be painless.
