Cricket: Former coach Bob Cunis 'owed his job to Martin Crowe'

Bob Cunis.

The late Northland cricketing legend Bob Cunis reckoned he owed his job to Martin Crowe.

Stephen Cunis.

Northland Cricket Association operations manager Stephen Cunis said his late father Bob Cunis, a former New Zealand player and coach, revered Crowe's batting ability.

"I'll never forget him saying that the main reason he was able to keep his NZ coaching job for so long was because he had Richard (Hadlee) and Martin (Crowe) in the team. They were world class and opposition teams feared them. He'd say 'Richard would bowl them out and Martin would get us over the line!'

"He (Crowe) was so good, so precise and so majestic in how he played. He never threw it away and never gave teams a sniff when he was on top. He was the anchor of the NZ side, he always gave us a hope of winning."

Crowe's record breaking 299 against Sri Lanka at Wellington's Basin Reserve in 1991 stood out for Cunis.

"The partnership he had with Andrew Jones at the Basin, when he scored 299, was awesome. That is certainly my first memory of a batsman grinding an opposition bowling attack into the ground. It was brilliant."

Cunis was at Eden Park for the Black Caps v Australia World Cup match last year, when Crowe was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

"I'll never forget watching him smile and acknowledge a standing ovation by a packed Eden Park ... a pretty fitting farewell really."