Crowe will be 49 by the time the first-class season gets under way, but, as cricket writer Adrian Seconi reports, he is not the first seasoned campaigner to play in his twilight.
Bert Sutcliffe
After a six-year absence, the classy left-hander returned to test cricket at the age of 41 for New Zealand's 1965 tour of India, Pakistan and England.
Sutcliffe's unbeaten 151 against India at Eden Gardens was his fifth and last test century. He demonstrated his experience in a patient knock while all-rounder Bruce Taylor took the long handle to the attack at the other end.
Spinner Jack Alabaster is the oldest to play test cricket for New Zealand. He was 41 years and 247 days in his last game against the West Indies at Port of Spain in March 1972.
Wilfred Rhodes
Rhodes' career reads like a fairytale - er, make that a very long novel. He made his first-class debut as a 20-year-old and played for another 32 years. He was 52 years and 165 days when he last donned the whites for England and remains the oldest man to play test cricket. Remarkably, the all-rounder played 1110 first-class games from 1898 to 1930 and took 4204 wickets at 16.73 and scored 39,969 runs at 30.82.
WG Grace
Father Time himself.
William Gilbert Grace began his career when the sport was more of a pastime for the upper classes and batsmen were lucky if the pitch was mowed before the game. While his achievements on the field have been overtaken by future generations, he was the most dominant player of his era. He played first-class cricket for a staggering 44 seasons between 1865 and 1908. His last game was for the Gentlemen of England against Surrey at The Oval in April 1908 - three months shy of his 60th birthday.
Brian Close
The England all-rounder played test cricket in four different decades. He made his debut as an 18-year-old in July 1949 against New Zealand and played the last of his 22 tests in July 1976, aged 45 years 140 days.
Martin Crowe?
Unfinished business. That is what older brother Jeff Crowe is calling Martin's surprise return to the game.
Others, perhaps unkindly, are calling it a midlife crisis.
He is, after all, approaching that age when the temptation to trade in the car for something sporty, pursue younger women or go hang-gliding for the first time seems like a good idea.
But good on Crowe for chasing his dream. He needs a further 392 runs to raise 20,000 first-class runs and become just the third New Zealand to reach the milestone behind Glenn Turner and John Wright.
He will probably fail: Crowe knows that. And he is an injury away from reality rudely interrupting.
But the majestic right-hander gave us another glimpse of his trademark straight drives and textbook technique in the nets this week and who does not want to see more?
