Sports Roundup and Jock Edwards were made for each other

If you believe some of the published versions of the demise of Radio Sport, you would think 'sports radio' only had its origins in the 1980s.

The fact is a form of sports radio had been around since the late-1950s.

It ran on what was called the YC network out of the respective stations in the four main centres. At a few key times during the day, the National Programme would cross for half an hour of action, which was about the only time country listeners received a non-static version of the programme.

It ran during the summer months, and usually in conjunction with the Plunket Shield. No play on days between games then no Sports Roundup, as it was called.

The coverage wasn't confined to cricket. Tennis and softball enjoyed unprecedented access to their major tournaments and a level of interest that has never been regained.

Few were the people who didn't know who Onny Parun or Brian Fairlie was in tennis, or Kevin Herlihy, Dennis Cheyne, Peter Priddey, Paul Rogers, John Joyce or Basil McLean were in the softball ranks.

But it was centred around the cricket and the ability to flick from venue to venue when any action was occurring.

It is with that in mind that memories of Jock Edwards, who died this week, were evoked.

If there was one player with the ability to warrant a quick change of venue when he walked out to bat it was Edwards. He was one of a few players capable of giving the ball a nudge. Peter Coman had done it for Canterbury and Edwards maintained the momentum.

Famously, when selected for the New Zealand one-day side for the first time when it played in the Australian domestic competition during the 1960s-70s, Edwards, 20 years of age at the time, hooked a ball from fast man Dennis Lillee.

Lillee chirped him: "Where did you learn to hook, sonny?" to which Edwards replied, "From mugs like you!"

He didn't like to hang around when batting. In a time of defensive correctness above all else, he worked on the notion if the ball was there to be hit then it should be. He often joked in later years that his longest hit was a six hit out of his home ground at Trafalgar Park in Nelson, onto the back of a passing Nelson Transport truck which the driver discovered 110km later at Spring Creek, north of Blenheim.

His reputation made him a crowd favourite and he revelled in a side that had other big hitters like Lance Cairns and Wayne Hodgson.

Nelson and Pukekura Park in New Plymouth seemed to draw the best out of him.

Greg Chappell's 1977 Australian team learned that in Nelson when Edwards lined up against Lillee again, accompanied this time by Max Walker and Gary Gilmour. Having opened the first innings and scored 49 of CD's 156 in reply to Australia's 126, CD was left a target of 283 to win.

When he'd scored five Edwards retired hurt after a blow to his arm. But at 74-4, he had recovered sufficiently to join Peter Holland in a master class of attacking batting against left-arm spinner Ray Bright and leg-spinner Kerry O'Keefe.

They added 50 in 27 minutes, 100 in 52 minutes and 117 in 64 minutes before they were parted. Edwards took 13 runs off a Bright over to move to 97, adding two and then, when attempting to score the single that would have given him his maiden first-class century, he was given out lbw to Lillee. His 99 was scored in 86 minutes from 97 balls with one six and 18 fours.

Lillee proved the difference coming back to take 4-9 from his seven overs as CD fell 66 runs short.

That was sufficient to see Edwards selected for his Test debut which he marked by scoring 34 and 15 in the first Test and 51 and a duck in the second.

That elusive maiden century followed in the following season when he hit 115 against Otago.

In the 1980-81 season he enjoyed his most productive season with the bat hitting 679 runs at 56.59, a CD record that stood until Martin Crowe went berserk six years later while scoring 680 for CD during a total season's haul of 1348 runs at 103.72.

He played 92 first-class games, 67 of them for CD, scoring 4589 runs at 29.41. He hit five centuries and 25 half-centuries and had a top score of 177 not out.

Being a Nelsonian he was also part of their Hawke Cup history, hitting 1038 runs in 24 games at 37.07.

Not only was Edwards a drawcard for home fans, but he also upped the listening stats on Sports Roundup.

'His class is reflected in his statistics, but his elegance is carved into the memory'

We knew it was coming but it doesn't make it any easier when it happens and Martin Crowe's death will be felt widely by family, friends, cricket fans and sportspeople generally.

Simply put he was one of the great New Zealand sportsmen.

His class is reflected in his statistics, but his elegance is carved into the memory.

Where do you begin to describe the assault Crowe made on your appreciation of batsmanship?

Even when under a fierce barrage from Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee in his Test debut, Crowe looked the part. He admitted later he had been introduced too soon into the Test arena and while he took a little time to get over the shock, the readjustment wasn't too long in coming.

His career is littered with batting brilliance and the example in technique, timing and power when necessary will live long in the minds of followers of cricket.

Some chronological memories:

+ His innings of 66 in the Bushfire ODI in Sydney in March 1983, 363 days after his Test exposure to the Aussie fast men, signalled he was back. Playing on a wet wicket Crowe's technique was superior and demonstrated what lay ahead.

+ After what for him was a disappointing tour of England in 1983, he scored his maiden Test century on the Basin Reserve in a return series with England, a sizzling early cover driven four from Bob Willis' bowling became a trademark shot.

+ Consistency had been an issue in the next 18 months or so, but come Brisbane in 1985, there was no doubting his place among New Zealand's great batsmen with 188, a scored he made twice in a calendar year after an earlier score in Georgetown, Guyana, at the Gabba in the innings victory over Australia.

+ Back on home turf, in the return series against Australia, at Lancaster Park, he took one on the chin and had to leave the field with blood pouring from a wound. But when he returned the assault on the bowling was belligerent and fierce in his effort of 137.

+ At Lancaster Park again his 83 against the West Indies in 1987 helped set up a famous victory which allowed New Zealand to level the series against the world champions.

+ His 299 against Sri Lanka was notable for the world-record third wicket partnership of 467 he enjoyed with Andrew Jones.

+ Will his century in the opening game of the 1992 World Cup against Australia on Eden Park ever be forgotten? It was the start of the most remarkable month of his career as New Zealand came within a hamstring pull of winning the World Cup.

+ The 91 he scored in an ODI at Hamilton against Australia, a game in which Jeff Wilson launched his international career, was notable for the fact that he batted on one leg and still produced the brilliance associated with him in full flow.

+ There were the two centuries on what was his farewell tour of England, 142 at Lord's and 115 in Manchester.

Sadly the career ended with an ODI in Nagpur, India in which his parting contribution was 63.

The prize of a triple Test century was denied Crowe at the Basin Reserve against Sri Lanka and that may have been the last time he enjoyed batting with complete confidence that his legs, which would ultimately end his career, could allow him to flourish.

In the second Test of that series, in Hamilton, Crowe was running back from the slips to field a ball and suffered a horrendous twist in the knee, the same knee that had caused him to end his schoolboy rugby career.

It was the same leg that would see his hamstring falter in the all-important World Cup semi-final against Pakistan a year later. And that leg would eventually force him to the realisation that he was no longer able to continue.

Having had the chance to watch Crowe in action as a journalist covering the game, to help him pen his always interesting columns, there was also the chance to see him in action during a triumphant period of Wellington cricket in the early 1990s.

On days when he and his great mate Richard Reid opened the batting in one-day games for Wellington, crowds were queuing outside the Basin Reserve from 7 o'clock in the morning to see them tear opposing sides apart. They rarely failed to please.

In his pomp Crowe could stride to the wicket leaving the watcher in complete confidence that his wicket would never be thrown away. He loved scoring runs, he cherished the battle and no bowler could rest easy. Sir Richard Hadlee for one could never claim his wicket.

There were times when he was misunderstood, criticised, sometimes of his own making, but there was never any doubt that to him the game was the thing.

It is a travesty that more was not made of his expertise by New Zealand Cricket but he wouldn't be the first person to suffer that fate in New Zealand cricket, or New Zealand sport. The failure to utilise those who have gone before, to seek knowledge before having to reinvent the wheel,  is one of the indictments of New Zealand sporting administrators.

The fortunate thing for future generations of cricketers is that access to much of his batting is readily available through online carriers like YouTube.

The illness that claimed his life was sad, he had so much still to offer but there can be no doubt that Martin Crowe has left a cricketing legacy for the ages.