The Crowe-Thorpe Trophy, a taonga born from the timber of two legendary bats, is ready to make its first journey to English soil, ahead of the BLACKCAPS upcoming Test series starting at Lord’s in London on June 4.
Unveiled ahead of the 2024-25 home Test series against England, the trophy was crafted by master carver David Ngawati of Mahu Creative, fusing wood taken from bats belonging to Martin Crowe and Graham Thorpe, two of the game's most gifted batsmen, and two men who passed too soon.
Thorpe’s widow Amanda and her daughters Emma and Kitty travelled to New Zealand in the summer of 2024-25 for the inaugural Crowe-Thorpe Trophy series, and joined Ngawati in a private ceremonial blessing of the taonga.
It was publicly unveiled at the start of the first Test of that series in Christchurch – by Crowe’s sister Deb, and former England captain Mike Atherton.
The trophy has received high praise for its purpose, its authenticity, and for the relevance of its message.
“It’s not often that boards get things absolutely spot on but that is a brilliant trophy,” said former England captain Sir Alastair Cook.
“Whoever came up with the idea, it’s fantastic.”
As part of preparing it for travel, Ngawati has assisted the BLACKCAPS and England teams to establish a Kaupapa (purpose) and tikanga (protocols) around the trophy.
This includes karakia blessings, a designated kaitiaki (guardian) from each organisation bearing responsibility for the trophy's care, ensuring its kaupapa is respected at every step, and handling protocols.
The karakia is one of several tikanga that both NZC and the ECB have agreed to uphold, reflecting the trophy's status as something that carries the mauri, the life force, of two great men.
"The trophy is taonga," Ngawati told NZC and the BLACKCAPS squad last week, in a session dedicated to sharing the story behind the piece.
"It's deeper than the game itself."
For Ngawati, the process of creating the trophy began long before chisel met wood.
A native carver who had never worked with willow, he first had to build a relationship with the materials, and with the men whose energy they carried.
"I went through my own process of whakatau, a mihi-mihi, welcoming these energies into my whare," he said. "I knew that was the proper thing to do. That gave me a clear kind of pathway to create from."
Ngawati spoke of the particular weight he felt upon receiving the Thorpe family's bat, a Kookaburra with which Graham scored his first two centuries against New Zealand in back-to-back Tests in 1997.
Thorpe detailed those achievements on the face of the bat in vivid marker, which has been preserved within the carving.
"The Thorpe whānau had gone through a lot after losing Graham,” said Ngawati.
“For them to hand over the bat; that wouldn't have been an easy thing to do. That process of them letting go of something so valuable added to the pressure of me having to create a trophy out of it."
Crowe's bat, the GM blade with which he made his century at Lord's in 1994, arrived alongside it. The two front faces, where each man had struck the ball, were joined together in the finished piece.
"They're at ease now," Ngawati said. "They're at rest."
The trophy's design tells a complete story.
Its base is shaped as an oval, a nod to the grounds on which the game is played, and carved from ancient swamp kauri sourced from Ngati Hine in Northland, Ngawati's own tribal area.
The carvings on the base depict the foundations each man needed to reach the top: family, community, and the support structures upon which all great players grow.
Rising from that base, each side of the trophy traces a different journey upward.
On one side, Thorpe's centuries against New Zealand are preserved, including the handwritten vivid inscription from the bat itself, now framed within the carving.
On the other, a taniwha with a pounamu eye represents Crowe's ascent, a guardian of the mountain, and a reminder that pounamu, as the saying goes, always returns home.
The trophy's pinnacle, where the carving eases and opens out, speaks to something beyond achievement in life.
"Although they achieved what they needed to achieve, they kept going further," Ngawati said.
"For us, the spiritual side of Te Ao Māori is that their achievement is to get to the other side. These two gentlemen passed away. They got to the very top, then they exited on to the other side."
Ngawati also reflected on what the trophy represents for the broader relationship between New Zealand and English cricket, one he frames through the concept of tuakana-teina, the bond between older and younger sibling.
"England Cricket is definitely our older brother. They started the game. But knowing that having a tuakana-teina relationship has responsibilities with it as well. Us as the younger brother… we'll keep nipping at their toes, giving them a good crack, because we can."
"The mauri in it, the energy source, is in it itself," he said.
"To be able to even touch it, to have that in your hand, is an amazing feat, is an amazing goal to have.
“We want this to be a taonga that is continuously fought for, steeped in story and whakapapa; something that younger players can relate to, to aspire to.”
NZC interim chief executive Graham Parks said sending the trophy to England for the first time felt entirely fitting.
"Today's generation of players are standing on the shoulders of those who went before them, players like Graham and Martin," said Parks.
"Both were seriously good batsmen who understood the game intimately. They commanded respect wherever they went."
The series gets underway at Lord’s in London on June 4, live in New Zealand on Sky with audio commentary from Talk Sport UK.
