Top 5 New Zealand captains of all time

#4 Martin Crowe

Martin Crowe was renowned for making quite a few innovative decisions

Even though his erstwhile teammate Jeremy Coney might seem to have a better captaincy resume than him, Martin Crowe's contribution to New Zealand cricket as a leader cannot be gleaned from mere numbers. During the latter part of 80s and early phase of 90s, there were not many better readers of the game than the batting maestro from Auckland.

Armed with the capacity to think out of the box, Crowe did not shy away from making bold decisions and calculated gambles. Be it sending Mark Greatbach up the batting order to facilitate rapid starts or opening the bowling with off-spinner Dipak Patel, he broke stereotypes associated with ODI cricket and established unforeseen trends through his audacious captaincy.

New Zealand dearly missed his sharp acumen during the 1992 World Cup semi-final against Pakistan. After scoring an 83-ball 91, Crowe did not take the field due to a hamstring injury and subsequently found himself regretting the missed opportunity.

Captaincy Record

Tests - 2 wins and 7 losses from 16 matches

ODIs - 21 wins and 24 losses from 44 matches