Cricket: Crowe a great mentor

New Zealand captain Martin Crowe in action at Eden Park in the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Photo / NZME

There was a special time in the mid-90s when a Northlander opened the batting and bowling for New Zealand.

The batsman was Bryan Young. The bowler, Dion Nash.

And for Nash, Lord's in June 1994 was special.

Not just for his unique double of 10 wickets in a match and 50 runs. It was also a match in which Martin Crowe, who died yesterday, made 142 in the first innings.

"He got 100 runs and I got 10 wickets. The next game I wasn't playing well and he came and sat next to me in the dressing room and said words to me which were very uplifting," Nash said.

Nash said the news of Crowe's passing was tough to take, just recently he had seemed fit and strong after choosing natural medicines ahead of conventional treatment for lymphoma.

Nash, from Dargaville, said Crowe had been a fantastic mentor who had a huge impact on his generation of cricketers.

"He was one of two names alongside Richard Hadlee that everyone knew while growing up. I was lucky, when I made it into the Black Caps, he was the captain and at the height of his prowess."

Nash said other cricketers recognised Crowe's ability to win them matches. "(He was) a big character who carried the weight of the whole team. He wasn't always easy to deal with, he was demanding and set very high standards for himself and for those around him."

Barry Cooper, regarded as one of New Zealand's finest domestic cricketers, first encountered Crowe at at under-20 tournament. Crowe was 14.

"He (Martin) was only 14 and the best player on the paddock (during the tournament) at that age. He was just fantastic and always played nice and straight."

Cooper, who played alongside Crowe's older brother Jeff in the 1976 New Zealand secondary school side, said Crowe was very driven "in the sense that nothing would get in his way to stop what he wanted to achieve. Everything for him revolved around cricket and his quest to better himself in the game".

Crowe went on to play provincial cricket for Auckland in 1980 aged 17. Two years later he was selected for New Zealand to play Australia.

In November 1995 his career ended due to injury, with a world-class test batting average of 45.65 and a one-day average of 38.55. His career best 299 v Sri Lanka in 1991 at the Basin Reserve was only bettered in February 2014 by recently retired Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum.