Gone too young, too soon

Reader: gmsjgmsj

A humble poetic tribute to Martin Crowe:

Oh! whither have you departed Martin?
The skimming sparrow immaculate.
Pure with willow, strong in temper
As you danced down the yards
Striking sweetly and poignantly.

Yonder flies heavenward, beloved Martin
From whence comes another?

Reader: bruce.hickey

The first NZ test match I saw was the first one they ever won,against the West Indies at Auckland in 1956. For the next 25 years I saw ever test played at Eden Park. But I always wondered why NZ could not produce great batsmen of the calibre that countries like England, India, Pakistan, Australia (when they finally sent their A team), South Africa did. Then Martin arrived & my prayers were answered. Thank you Martin for your amazing contributions to cricket on & off the field.Your strokeplay was thing of beauty & will live in my memory forever.

Thank you also Mark for delivering us one helluva masterpiece of writing. I heard your interview on Radio Sport on Friday when you mentioned you had written 3000 words for the article. You did Martin proud. It brought tears to my eyes. Saved it for perpetuity in My Favourites.

Reader: Ananth Narayanan

It is indeed with a heavy heart that I write this. I started writing for Cricinfo about 8 years back. Martin mailed me directly on an article about 5 years back. I paraphrased his wonderful comment for the readers. He was an outstanding student of the game and one of the most erudite and knowledgeable amongst all players. The last I wrote to him was after the 2015 Final. He replied in his own inimitable manner. His words were clear. He did not expect to live to see the 2019 WC. I replied to him that all the prayers of his fans, followers and friends would allow him to see New Zealand defeat South Africa in the 2019 WC Lord's Final. There was a short Thank You note. That was all. After that I did not hear from him. His loss would be a great one for New Zealand cricket and his absence would be felt equally by the cricketing fraternity around the world. A player/man like Crowe is a once-a-hundred year phenomenon. May his soul rest in peace. May God be with his family. Ananth Narayan.

Reader: sportofpain

Very saddened to hear this. Martin - what can I say. As a life long cricket buff I have followed cricket and cricketers, admiring some, adoring a few and always feeling great positive energy towards the game and its personalities. You were a special one - I remember the BBC commentary of the 1983 world cup when one of the commentators talked about your blond curly haired good looks to go with your tremendous talent - I think you scored a 90 in that game - might have been against England. To me that was when you emerged and then you were a constant presence in the cricketing spotlight. The 1992 WC is well documented. Pakistan won but you and the kiwis were really the people's favorite to win. YOUR inventiveness transformed the game. I sometimes think that when I retire I would travel to different parts of the cricket world swap stories with others and even meet and chat with the famous ones. You were high on that list. Not to be. Gone too young, too soon. Already missing you friend.

Reader: jg2704

I met Martin just once , while playing for Somerset vs Derbyshire (a JPL game). He had much to deal with as he joined on the back of Somerset releasing Joel and Viv when the rules reduced the allocation of overseas players per CC game from 2 to 1. I seemed to remember he acquitted himself pretty well as a player. However my memory was of trying to get his autograph after the game when he was rushing in to watch the end of another JPL game on BBC2. I caught up with him, sat with John Wright who played for Derbyshire and they were so kind and accommodating to this irritating/demanding kid in his early teens. It was in the days where cricketers mixed with public more and I guess these days I'd get nowhere near the players/members lounge. I took a photo but unfortunately it didn't come out - Maybe it was too dark and also the shutter was so stiff on this camera that you needed as a kid to do weight training to keep the camera steady. Anyway the image will always remain. RIP top man.

Reader: Donovan Bolton

My first memory of Martin Crowe is the 1992 World Cup. I had not yet seen a batsman who could climb into bowlers with the kind of aggression he did. I was scared SA would face NZ because I felt Martin Crowe alone would destroy us. I read his letter to AB de Villiers during the recent World Cup (It is sublime). He wrote to AB the way a father would write to his son. A man who can be devastating on the 'field of battle' and then freely share wisdom in a caring way has reached something many of us search for - the equilibrium between the warrior and the gentleman / poet. New Zealand, you gave birth to yet another truly great person. My sincere condolences that you lost him too early. God speed Martin!

Reader: hlangl

Others may overtake his tally of runs, the number of hundreds, the highest score/s, etc., but Martin Crowe would always remain as the best & certainly the most elegant batsman produced by New Zealand by some distance. Had the injuries been not so cruel to eventually cut short his international career at a relatively young age with many gaps as well due to the injuries in between not allowing him to have a well-continued run even when he was at his peak as a player, he would have surely go down in the history as one of the genuine greats in the game. Batsmen of such a sublime elegance are a rare breed these days....RIP.

Reader: tushmath

My earliest memories of cricket are of watching Martin Crowe wearing a neck cooler while batting and taking THAT catch to dismiss Houghton in the 1987 WC. He was my first cricketing hero and I followed his exploits very closely. When I think of him I remember how the camera had focussed on him as he sat in the dressing room in 1992 Semi Final against Pak and the match was slipping away from Kiwis. The anguish on his face was felt was felt by all cricket followers around the world. He has almost single handedly with his batting and captaincy, even with an amazing innings in the semi final had taken Kiwis to the cusp of a World Cup Final. It was heartbreaking to see him sit on the sidelines and be unable to captain his team into the final. In his later interviews, he confessed how Wright had ignored his plan to contain Pakistan. It was a very depressing sight indeed.