Former http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Auckland-c766, on November 19, 2011.
The New Zealander, who had made a surprise return to first class cricket, coming out of retirement in May, earlier this year, struggled against various injuries this summer but kept playing before the latest thigh injury forced him
to consider quitting.
The 48-year-old former New Zealand batsman had pulled a muscle while batting during the club match between Cornwall and Parnell.
"While getting off the mark yesterday I pulled a thigh muscle running a normal single into the covers. So three balls into my first premier match back, it's over," the dejected batsman revealed in an email written to various media
outlets.
The New Zealander had initially announced retirement from competitive cricket some 15 years ago due to a problematic right knee. During his 13-year-long International career, Crowe had represented the Kiwis in 77 Tests and 143 One
Day Internationals.
However, he surprised the followers of cricket by announcing his decision to return to the competitive cricket in May earlier this year. However, his return was short lived and a series of injuries forced him to take his decision
back and quit the game once again.
"I said from the start it would end in tears with an injury. I pulled a hip flexor in July, a hamstring in August, a groin in October and now a thigh, all upper left leg, all compensating for a dodgy arthritic right knee. No tears,
but frustrated after a lot of hard work getting ready," Crowe added further dejectedly.
One big reason behind Crowe’s surprising return to the field was to complete his tally of 20,000 first-class runs, which he is just 392 runs short of.
Though the former New Zealand skipper failed to achieve the milestone, he said that playing cricket at the age of 48 was sort of fun. Crowe said that during his short stint, spanning just 5 months, he had experienced the joy of batting
again.
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