Chris Martin - The gentleman fast bowler

Chris Martin

A few years down the line at Hamilton in ’08, Martin gave Kiwis plenty to rejoice, as he and his partner in crime, Mills, were the chief architects of a crushing win against England. But as the years ticked by, he lost a bit of nip in his bowling, and that uncanny ability to bend the ball like a boomerang went missing from his armour.

Yet, by hitting decent lines and lengths, and extracting appreciable movement out of the cracks that had opened-up, he sent shock- waves through India’s batting line-up at Ahmedabad in ’10/’11 by taking a 5-for.

With the emergence of a young troika of bowlers, namely Boult, Southee and Bracewell, he perhaps knew that his days as the spearhead of New Zealand’s pace attack was numbered. It wasn’t surprising that at the age of 38, he hung up his boots by announcing his retirement on July 2nd of 2013 from all forms of cricket.

Martin wasn’t your quintessential quick bowler. The becalmed Martin, was an anomaly, as even if I rack my brains day and night, I can’t remember him snarling and growling at the batsman too much. He quietly went about his job of bowling line and length, and taking wickets at crucial junctures of the match for New Zealand.

No discussion or article about Martin can be complete without a few words on Martin’s batting prowess or the lack of it. He was a rabbit, and genuine number 11 with a bat in hand. He made as many as 36 ducks, in a career spanning 71 Tests, and averaged just 2.36. He made it into double figures only once in his long Test career.

The ‘not-so-perfect’ defence of Chris Martin

In fact, Martin transported us back to an era when watching the likes of Walsh, Higgs, Hirwani and Chandrasekhar with a willow in hand was just pure entertainment. The way he took all those puns about the number of ducks he made in his career, with an everlasting sense of humour, endeared himself to millions of cricket lovers all over the world, earning him the nickname ‘The Phantom’.

The greatest moment in his life has to be the nearly picture-perfect cover-drive he essayed while playing Australia in a Test match at Seddon Park in ’10. Martin must have captured that cover-drive in a huge photo frame, and put it at the entrance of his house by now.

More than being the third highest wicket-taker for his country in Tests, even more than all those ducks he made in his Test career, hopefully Martin will be remembered by future generations for upholding the well-established traditions of the ‘gentleman’s game.’ Here was a cricketer who in his single-minded aim to put the ball in the right areas, rarely let his emotions take the better of him against the opposition.

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Edited by Staff Editor