Brendon McCullum's triple century against India in February was among his highlights, and the death of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes was the game's low point.
In reflecting on the Hughes tragedy, Crowe opened up about his struggle with lymphoma, which he was diagnosed with in 2012.
"Death is something I have contemplated lately, only because the medical experts say it's nearly time," wrote Crowe.
He said his cancer had been in remission, but in the past few months had reappeared in a new and more aggressive form. "To hear it had transformed into a rare blood disease called double-hit lymphoma, turbocharged to apparently give me very little time left (only 5 per cent of patients live up to 12 months), was a shock ... I tidied up my affairs, as they suggested, sold the farm (literally), wrote out a will and a funeral note, and braced myself. It's fair to say I thought the situation was a tad unfair." However, Crowe said Hughes' death put his own situation into context.
"What transpired was unheard of, unprecedented," he wrote of Hughes' demise after being hit in the head by a short-pitched ball during a domestic match in Sydney last month. "At age 25, he was truly denied ... Whatever emotion I felt about my own plight subsided somewhat as the enormity of Hughes' death sank in. I didn't know him, and yet it had a great effect, as it rightly had on many."
Crowe played 77 tests from 1982-95and held the record for New Zealand's highest individual test score of 299 runs for 23 years.
He starred as player of the tournament at the last Cricket World Cup here in 1992. He said the upcoming tournament was a chance to "join together down under and celebrate all that is well with the cricket world".
