Cricket: Bowler's name? It's easy to remember now

By RICHARD BOOCK

It wouldn't have been a great surprise if Chris Martin's first delivery in test cricket had been interrupted by a desperate scorer yelling out for the bowler's name.

The place was the old Springbok Park in Bloemfontein, the date was November 2000 - and it seemed that the only recognisable cricketer left in the world at that stage was South African paceman Allan Donald, who needed three more wickets to reach the 300-mark.

Local telecommunication companies, instead of flashing up exchanges on cellphones, ran the message 8AD 3008, and an Eland tank with a 90mm cannon was stationed at the ground, the gunner under instructions to celebrate each Donald wicket with a blast.

It was just a new twist on an old theme - in the Free State they often celebrate with armoured vehicles rather than rifles and handguns.

But even without all the fuss over Donald's milestone, Martin was still one of the most anonymous people at the ground that day, having arrived for The Invalids tour a week earlier and been sent directly to the front line.

That was the tour in which just about every bowler in the party was injured at some stage, making a head-count mandatory at breakfast each morning and giving the team physiotherapist a severe case of over-use syndrome.

Martin, weighing in at about 70kg, did well to take three wickets in the first innings, and later had to walk to the wicket after Donald had completed his 300-wicket haul, with the crowd near delirium and the Eland still smoking.

The fact that he managed to eke out an unbeaten seven, still his highest score after a dozen trips to the middle, suggests that coach John Bracewell might need to consider some New Zealand Army artillery if there's any still operable.

But Martin's first experience of international cricket always seemed likely to be a brief one, as more qualified players such as Dion Nash, Shane Bond and Chris Cairns were on the comeback trail, and team-mate Daryl Tuffey was starting to hit his straps.

He was jettisoned after New Zealand's humiliating innings-and-324-run loss at Lahore two years ago, when he took one for 108 as Inzamam-ul-Haq crashed 329, and Pakistan amassed 643.

By coincidence, the return of Tommy, as he is known to his team-mates, was almost as explosive as his experience at Bloemfontein.

His nagging pace and in-swing produced the best test performance by any pace bowler at Eden Park.

Only Daniel Vettori, who had match figures of 12 for 149 against Australia in 1999-2000, has tasted more success at the ground.

Martin, once described by Canterbury coach Denis Aberhart as being so laid back he was almost horizontal, said the transition came after he looked at his work ethic about a year ago and decided that he could do more for himself.

"I worked very hard," he said. "I cut a lot of things out of my lifestyle and that helped me to become healthier and fitter, and to bowl quicker spells more often.

"I was never a huge smoker, just five a day sort of thing. But I cut that right back and also cut down on the beer intake, and started pumping more iron.

"It isn't Mr Universe, I know, but it's made me stronger and I now hit the crease more powerfully."

One of life's alternative types, Martin found the discipline of a regular weight-training programme difficult, but he was able to push himself in the hope of another opportunity, and now tips the scales at 82kg.

"When I was doing it hard and struggling for motivation, I'd just think of the players who were ahead of me, and how much I wanted to do the same job," he said.

"I guess I never gave up playing for New Zealand again because I knew how stressful it was on the body, and that the guys ahead of me couldn't keep playing for ever."

MARTIN was brought into the team after coach John Bracewell canvassed senior players such as Stephen Fleming and Mark Richardson, who evidently suggested that he bowled better at left-handers than anyone else in the country.

He wasted no time living up to his billing.

Not only were the South African left-handers perplexed by the angle of his attack, but the right-handers were also having their share of difficulties, mostly because they tended to play a shade inside out, and were threatened by his in-swing.

"A lot of senior players vouched for me as a good flat-wicket bowler, who could bowl well at left-handers, and that definitely helped," Martin said.

"I'd taken enough wickets to prove I could get test batsmen out, and I felt the backing of the senior players ... It was a good feeling to know that I had their faith and trust."

Martin said he had not flicked some metaphorical switch to spark his comeback, but had simply matured as a person, become a little smarter and a shade more committed as a cricketer, and was enjoying a settled personal life.

He had always believed that he could make a better fist of test cricket if he received another chance, and he didn't enjoy the thought of wondering how good he might have been, once his career was finished.

"The game in Auckland was an example of what can happen if you put the work in and give yourself the best chance.

"You'd have to have a pretty good imagination to dream up something like that, and yet it happened."

FACT FILE

* Name: Christopher Stewart Martin.

* Born: December 10, 1974.

* Tests (before Wtgn match): 12.

* Test wickets: 45.

* Best bowling in an Innings: 6/76 v South Africa, Eden Park.

* Best bowling in a match: 11/180 v South Africa, Eden Park.

* Batsmen dismissed most: Gary Kirsten, Jacques Kallis, Neil McKenzie, Imran Farhat, Yousuf Youhana (all 3).

* Test batting record: 12 runs at 1.50.

* World records: One, for most consecutive scores of 0 or 0 not out (9).