Crowe retracts Maori remarks as Deaker lends support

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Cricketing great Martin Crowe has apologised for remarks about Maori aptitude for his game, but sports commentator Murray Deaker says he has nothing to be sorry for.

The former New Zealand cricket captain said on television at the weekend that he wanted to "sincerely apologise" to anyone he may have offended by suggesting Maori did not make good cricketers because they struggled to concentrate for a day.

He said his comments, in a regular column on the widely read Wisden website, were made in the context of praise for star Maori Black Cap Daryl Tuffey and a lament for a lack of more like him.

"The intention was to be positive about a young Maori bowler who I think has made a significant breakthrough."

His full comments, for which he has now apologised, were: "Tuffey is a Maori and, traditionally, not many Maori make good cricketers because they don't have the patience or the temperament to play through a whole day, leave alone over a test match."

The remarks have caused outrage in both Maori and sports circles, with New Zealand Cricket operations manager and former test player John Reid saying a number of promising young Maori were heading towards contention for the national team.

But Deaker, in his syndicated radio show, said he didn't know what the fuss was about as Crowe was simply stating a fact that there were few Maori yet at the top of the game.

Asked last night about his own comments, Deaker said: "If he [Crowe] had said Indians couldn't play rugby, would the Herald be ringing me now?

"So why are you getting uptight about the tangata whenua?"

Mana Motuhake leader Willie Jackson was willing to concede that Crowe may have had a point about Maori temperament towards what many of his people used to consider a "boring" game.

But it was wrong for Crowe to have said not many Maori made good cricketers, and Mr Jackson suggested the former captain consider why they had not previously been attracted to the game.

Mr Jackson, who admitted to playing cricket into his late teens "to a pretty respectable level", believed Maori, given the right encouragement, had the potential to offer the game as much flair and talent as the West Indians.