WELLINGTON: Former New Zealand cricket captain Martin Crowe has died after a long battle with cancer.

The 53-year-old, a cousin of Hollywood star Russell Crowe, rewrote the New Zealand record book during a 13-year Test career, then set about reinventing cricket in retirement with an early 20-over version of the game.

“Yes it is unfortunately true, he has died,” a New Zealand Cricket spokesman said on Thursday, confirming an earlier statement from Crowe’s family which said: “It is with heavy hearts that the family of Martin Crowe advise his death. The family request privacy at this time.”

Widely regarded as New Zealand’s finest batsman, Crowe played 77 Tests from 1982-1995 and scored 5,444 runs.

Hailing from a cricketing family — his father Dave played first grade and brother Jeff also captained the Black Caps — Crowe make his Test debut in 1982 aged 19 against Australia.

He was soon being hyped as the best young batsman in the world, with Wisden naming him cricketer of the year in 1985.

While injuries arguably prevented Crowe reaching his full potential, a Test average of 45.36 still places him among the game’s elite.

When he retired from international cricket in 1995, he held a slew of New Zealand batting records, including most Test runs (5,444), highest Test score (299), most 50s (35) and most hundreds (17) — the last of which still stands.

The elegant right-hander also scored 4,704 runs at an average of 38.55 in One-day Internationals.

Australian legend Shane Warne ranked Crowe in his top 100 Test cricketers of all time, saying the Kiwi star had a full range of shots and handled pace and spin equally well.

Crowe also won plaudits for his captaincy in both the Test and one-day formats, including innovative attack-from-the-outset tactics at the 1992 World Cup.

He was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in March 2015 during the Cricket World Cup co-hosted by New Zealand.

While recognised for his achievements as a batsman, Crowe’s major impact on the game arguably came after he retired in 1995 and laid the foundation for cricket’s Twenty20 revolution.

An American executive at his new employer Sky Television complained cricket was too long and should be more like baseball, prompting Crowe to begin looking at the options.

“Jeff, my brother, grabbed the beers and I grabbed a large piece of paper to sketch on,” he wrote in his autobiography Raw. “We worked off the premise of three hours maximum... the game would be fast and furious, with action to burn.”

Cricket Max ran in New Zealand for seven years and was pitched to English cricket authorities in 1998, eventually emerging in modified form as Twenty20 in 2003.

“We were definitely the precursor but we perhaps a bit ahead of our time,” Crowe said.

He first revealed he had lymphoma in October 2012, saying eight months later that he was in remission, only for the cancer to return in September 2014.

Crowe said a new, more aggressive form of the disease, double-hit lymphoma, had developed and he had been told only five percent survive more than 12 months.

Crowe is survived by his second wife, former Miss Universe Lorraine Downes, who he married in 2009, and daughter Emma from his first marriage.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2016