County compliments Crowe

Press, 25 August 1986, Page 22

County compliments Crowe

NZPA staff correspondent London

The New Zealand batsman, Martin Crowe, was paid one of the biggest compliments of his career yesterday by the English county, Somerset

The county announced it would not renew the contracts of the West Indian stars, Viv Richards and Joel Garner, so it could sign Crowe on a three-year contract from next year.

The Central Districts batsman had an extraordinarily successful de-

but season with Somerset in 1984 while the two West Indians were on test duty against England, scoring 1769 runs at an average of 53.6 in the county championship and taking 39 wickets.

Since then, he has been registered by the county but unable to play because of the presence of Richards and Garner, both of whom have played for Somerset for a decade.

Somerset’s secretary, Mr Tony Brown, said the decision to take on Crowe in place of the West Indians was based

on the need for the county to look to its future. In particular, Richards had indicated he may not be available past next summer.

However, the county has also had a poor record in recent years, with Richards and Garner, and also lan Botham, playing well only spasmodically. Last season it finished last in the county championship. Crowe said Essex, one of the leading English counties, had also shown an interest in signing him but he had wanted to return to Somerset.

“I enjoyed it two years

ago and always wanted to go back,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for me and I suppose what they’ve done is quite a compliment’’

Crowe said New Zealand’s limited inter-, national commitments during the next three years meant he would not have to play cricket 12 months a year. ,

“1 see it as a chance to fine tune my game so that I can perform at the best possible level in tests,” he said.

“After three years at Somerset, I would have to be a better player.”