Easily the best ever batsman to emerge from New Zealand, Martin Crowe has shocked the world of cricket by announcing that he is set to return to first class cricket in a bid to complete 20,000 runs at this level of cricket. Crowe, who retired from test cricket 16 years ago, stated that he has the desire of completing the 20,000-run land mark and also see if a man of his age can cut it at the second highest level of the game.
Crowe was known for his classical stroke play and penchant for big hundreds in Test and first class cricket; he made 77 test appearances for his country and scored 5444 runs at a world class average of 45 runs per innings. He scored 17 centuries and 18 fifties which highlighted a brilliant conversion rate from 50 to 100.
Crowe had to give up on cricket due to a knee injury which made it impossible for him to train and more importantly, bat for a long time. He told media that he made the decision to return to first class cricket after getting motivated by a friend, who told him that in order to keep fit he ought to return to the cricket field and see if he can reach the 20,000-run mark in first class cricket.
'Why don't you try knocking off 20,000 first-class runs? You have 392 to go.' And I thought that's the perfect answer. Why don't I take a bat in my hand and see what happens when summer comes around. At the same time it could be fun because here in New Zealand the batting is in a little bit of decline and it will be a good way to see where the techniques are at." Crowe stated.
He added that at the time of his retirement from Test cricket, he had many goals unaccomplished and he wants to see if he can at least prosper at the club level and first class level.
He also stated that he was disappointed with the end to his international career, and blamed politics within the New Zealand team as another reason besides his fitness for the premature end to his career.
"I'm happy with my career except for the fact that I finished on a downer, with an injury. I suppose I wanted 20 hundreds, 6000 runs, but in the end I was not physically capable of hanging on. And a lot of politics came in to it,” he added.
He would represent Auckland Districts in the New Zealand domestic season after first testing his fitness and form at the club level.
0 comments:
Post a Comment