Glenn Turner v Martin Crowe

[Craig]

Who would go down as the best New Zealand batsmen?

Crowe's career was robbed by injury, and what he achieved was fantastic and Turner's place in the game can't be knocked either. Often he fell out with NZC with money (IIRC) but he is part of the famous club that on the tour of England in the early 1970's where he scored a 1000 runs before the end of May (the days of proper cricket tours and a proper cricket season when the who's who of batsmen would achieve this target back then) and scored twin centuries against Australia in the 70's in a match at Lancaster Park (now Jade Stadium) and I think was the standard bearer for future New Zealand batsmen. The less said about stint as coach for New Zealand the 90's the better.

 

[Fiery]

Always struggled with this one tbh

 

[Richard]

Crowe would almost certainly be the best if he'd not had such unfortunate problems with injuries. I tend to go for Turner over him for the same reason I go for Edmund Peate over other left-arm fingerspinners (Wilf Rhodes excepted ).

 

[Fiery]

Who would go down as the best New Zealand batsmen?

Crowe's career was robbed by injury, and what he achieved was fantastic and Turner's place in the game can't be knocked either. Often he fell out with NZC with money (IIRC) but he is part of the famous club that on the tour of England in the early 1970's where he scored a 1000 runs before the end of May (the days of proper cricket tours and a proper cricket season when the who's who of batsmen would achieve this target back then) and scored twin centuries against Australia in the 70's in a match at Lancaster Park (now Jade Stadium) and I think was the standard bearer for future New Zealand batsmen. The less said about stint as coach for New Zealand the 90's the better.

More about county commitments I think. To say it was just about the money might be a bit unfair

 

[Craig]

More about county commitments I think. To say it was just about the money might be a bit unfair

Yeah that would be a fair call. Don't know why I forgot about that.

 

[Fiery]

Yeah that would be a fair call. Don't know why I forgot about that.

 

[Craig]

Much appreciated. What would I do without you?

 

[Fiery]

Much appreciated. What would I do without you?

I just don't know Craig

 

[archie mac]

I voted Crowe but not much in it, they could use one of them atm, in fact half a one would get a game

 

[Fiery]

I voted Crowe but not much in it, they could use one of them atm, in fact half a one would get a game

Correct but players like that come around once in a blue moon on this side of the ditch, I'm afraid

 

[Anil]

crowe for me too, one of my all-time favourite batsmen...

 

[Fiery]

Crowe was far better to watch. Classic technique and all the shots played to perfection with perfect balance and sweet timing

 

[archie mac]

Crowe was far better to watch. Classic technique and all the shots played to perfection with perfect balance and sweet timing

I remember when he was a young Test player his average was very poor?

I wonder if we took out those early matches what his final average would have been?

 

[Fiery]

The thing I loved about Martin Crowe's batting was that he could play in many different gears. He was a good leaver, went under the bouncer well, used his height to play on top of the ball, and work it on the leg-side, but also had all the strokes of a great player. His positional play against really quick bowling was outstanding, e.g, his 188 at Guyana against the Windies pace battery. He could bat defensively without letting the bowler get away with a bad ball...he punished them whatever the situation. He was blessed with tremendous natural ability and a real technician in the classical style. He was elegant without having the wristiness of the sub-continental players.

 

[Fiery]

I remember when he was a young Test player his average was very poor?

I wonder if we took out those early matches what his final average would have been?

Yeah his first 6 test scores were in single figures. He was blooded too soon

 

[archie mac]

The thing I loved about Martin Crowe's batting was that he could play in many different gears. He was a good leaver, went under the bouncer well, used his height to play on top of the ball, and work it on the leg-side, but also had all the strokes of a great player. His positional play against really quick bowling was outstanding, e.g, his 188 at Guyana against the Windies pace battery. He could bat defensively without letting the bowler get away with a bad ball...he punished them whatever the situation. He was blessed with tremendous natural ability and a real technician in the classical style. He was elegant without having the wristiness of the sub-continental players.

Great post, and spot on

 

[Fiery]

Great post, and spot on

Thanks

 

[Craig]

Surely he would of been one of the first captains in an ODI to open the bowling with a spinner? That 1992 WC sucked, because had he not been injured, New Zealand probably would have won and you of backed them to have knocked over England in the final. Probably the one that got away for New Zealand in terms of WC wins, obviously it is just hypothetical.

 

[Fiery]

Surely he would of been one of the first captains in an ODI to open the bowling with a spinner? That 1992 WC sucked, because had he not been injured, New Zealand probably would have won and you of backed them to have knocked over England in the final. Probably the one that got away for New Zealand in terms of WC wins, obviously it is just hypothetical.

Definitely the one that got away. Our best tournament ever and the best chance we have had of winning it. I was at the semi that was stolen by Inzi and was pretty devastated.

Can't think of any other spinners who have opened tbh

 

[Fiery]

Just in case people don't realise, Crowe's average in 1st-class cricket was an outstanding 56.02 with very close to 20,000 runs. That's by far the best of any kiwi and just below Wally Hammond at 29th on the all-time list of players who have played in more than 50 innings and better than players like Hutton, Weekes, Sobers, Kallis, Richards, Pollock, Worrell, Hayden, Miandad, Hick, Chappell, both Waughs, H.Sutcliffe, Compton, Lara, Zaheer Abbas, Border, Harvey, Hobbs and Inzamam to name a few too many