5 Kiwi cricketers who had forgettable debuts but went on to have high-flying careers

#2 Martin Crowe

The late Martin Crowe, who lost his life to cancer last year at the age of 53, is widely regarded as New Zealand’s greatest-ever batsman. An elegant stroke-player, Crowe finished his career with 5444 runs from 77 Tests at 45.36.

His tally of 17 hundreds is still the most by a Kiwi batsman. For years, his 299 stood as the highest individual score by a New Zealand batsman before Brendon McCullum surpassed it with an epic 302 against India in Wellington in 2014.

These big numbers, though, don’t define Martin’s career. A real hallmark of his greatness was the poise with which he batted. Peter Roebuck once described his vigil in the middle eagle like. He inspired young New Zealand boys to take to the art of willow wielding. Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill have publicly acknowledged Crowe’s influence in shaping up their careers.

Considering the soaring heights this great Kiwi touched during his career, it would sound surprising that his Test debut yielded him only nine runs against Australia in Wellington in 1982. Crowe’s life, though, was all about leaving the disappointment of the past behind and showing a fighting spirit to succeed in life.

He even managed to cure himself of cancer after being diagnosed with it in 2012. The deadly disease did claim his life in the end, but he fought till the last breath keeping his spirit as high as his career numbers.