Former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe passed away this morning, losing his battle to cancer. After retiring from the game as one of the greats of his era and a batsman of rare elegance, Crowe stayed involved in cricket as a mentor, writer and broadcaster. Espncricinfo Senior Editor Gaurav Kalra shares some memories of working alongside him.
One of the great privileges of my job is to work closely with people of great cricketing eminence. Martin Crowe was definitely among those, and his death today at just 53 brings back a flood of memories.
I didn’t know Martin before joining Cricinfo in 2014, other than as a great batsman and a savvy broadcaster. Spending time with him in Bangalore when he worked with us as an analyst during the World T20 in 2014 was among the most cherished experiences of my professional life. I had never come across a former cricketer who was as invested in the final output as he was.
I remember Martin sending the production team a long email after a few shows. He meticulously detailed aspects he disagreed with such as the length of time a graphic stayed on air, the structure of the talking points and how our visual elements were edited. He sought a meeting and I remember vehemently arguing with him on some issues but not once was it anything other than a conversation between equals.
The point of it was that he cared. My boss Sambit Bal replied to his email saying, “Marty, we thought we hired an analyst, but we’ve got an executive producer for free!” He was right. Martin’s experience as a broadcaster was more than just as a commentator. He understood the medium deeply and genuinely wanted a product he was involved in to be better. It wasn’t about showing up, collecting his fees and moving on. In all my years in this line of work, I am yet to come across anyone else of his stature caring as much about the brick and mortar background work.
That Martin was a brilliant writer is well known and his work can be sampled on the site. What struck me was his eye for the big picture. He never pontificated without information and held firm, deeply considered views. His writing and video analysis was always nuanced and he never wrote or said a word just for the sake of it. I remember being chastised on Twitter for a headline on a video piece I had interviewed him about. On revisiting, I realized he was right and made the change. Trust me, it is extremely rare for a former great to care about such subtleties.
All this aside, Martin was also great fun to be around. He played cricket with the guys in our tiny corridor. He regaled us with stories of his time in the IPL with RCB, even mimicking Vijay Mallya’s voice and demeanour to perfection, leaving us in splits. When he left after the tournament, he sent us an email but it wasn’t just a throwaway thank you note. He said something to each of the individuals, from the office assistant who organized his meals to each of the producers. I remember him writing, “Gaurav, news hound, a real pro.” It made me smile.
Ahead of last year’s World Cup, while planning our build up programming, I suggested we do a one-hour documentary with Martin and even came up with a working title for it- Return Down Under. The idea was to tell the story of New Zealand’s memorable 1992 World Cup campaign through his eyes. He would front the presentation, he would interview his fellow players, he would lead the narrative. Sambit was enthused by the idea and Martin was excited about it too. We got New Zealand visas and prepared to leave once the budgetary approvals came through.
But before we could crystalise plans Sambit called me aside and said we would have to abandon the project. Martin’s cancer had come back and there was no way his body would allow him to travel up and down the country, filming for long hours. Having experienced cancer closely in my family, I knew he faced a wretched struggle ahead.
Martin did make it to our studio in Sydney for a few appearances during the World Cup. I wasn’t there but it was great to see him in his element- alert, incisive, humorous and engaging. He had lost his hair but the look kind of suited him. I hoped for a miracle, though I knew it was foolish to do so.
One of cricket’s enduring cliches is that the players are custodians of the game, they must try to leave it better than they found it. Martin certainly did, well after he ended his wonderful playing career. As a mentor to young players, as an innovator who developed a concept that was the precursor to T20 and as a writer & broadcaster who added thought and substance to the conversations around the game.
I sign off with a memory I will always hold close to my heart. This is a conversation with Martin and Rahul Dravid at the ESPNcricinfo awards in 2014, discussing the three players nominated for the Cricketer of the generation. Hear it when you find the time just to get a sense of what an astute thinker he was.
He went way too soon, but while he was here Martin Crowe was a jewel to the game. He will be deeply missed.
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