8. Martin Crowe (New Zealand) – 100* vs Australia, 1992
The 1992 World Cup was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, and more so Australia hoped to defend their World Cup trophy. It was the first game of the tournament and the mighty Australians hoped to make a statement. But it was not meant to be, on the other side if the coin was a determined and inspirational captain Martin Crowe. New Zealand chose to bat on a pitch on a slow pitch and was determined enough to uproot the Australian domination. However, it was not the brightest of starts for the Kiwis having lost 2 wickets for 13 runs and the New Zealand camp was in a spot of bother. Then came the quintessential and inspirational captain who was busy in the crease and stabilising the innings with the able company of Rod Latham. He proved to be a match winner as he was there till the end of the innings and completing a masterful century. Crowe had a nagging knee problem at the end of the innings but that didn’t stop him from coming into the field in the Australian inning and matched his captaincy with his batting skills. He tortured the Australian batsmen with support from off-spinner Dipak Patel. In the end New Zealand won by 37 runs. The goodness of his innings was his ability to change gears, when New Zealand needed someone to stay there and build a partnership he was there and when it came the situation to cut loose he showed his batsmanship there too. He is no.8 in the list.
