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HOBART - It's difficult to recall Chris Martin showing any emotion on a cricket pitch.
But he admits last Friday in Adelaide was as close as he'd come to losing the plot in front of millions of television viewers.
The world's most destructive batsman, Adam Gilchrist, was in full flight. Martin bowled the perfect delivery, it bounced, Gilchrist on 38 got an edge and gloveman Brendon McCullum jubilantly hurled the ball in the air.
No ball.
Umpire Mark Benson stood with his arm extended. Replays showed the front foot overstepping by mere millimetres. Martin, the laid-back, all-round good bloke, stood, hands on hips, and was about to make Mike Tyson look like a choirboy in comparison.
"It was one of the few extremely emotional moments that you'll see out of me," Martin said.
"I don't generally get that wild but I was pretty pissed off.
"It was my first no ball in a game for a while, especially when a free hit's on offer.
"The ball I'd bowled was exactly what I wanted, and the result I wanted. To see him stick his arm out was enough to, yeah...."
Let's move on.
Gilchrist added just 13 more runs before Martin removed him, skying a catch to Ross Taylor, but the damage was done.
For Martin, it was welcome to the joys of one-day cricket, Aussie style.
Just days past his 33rd birthday, the Adelaide ODI was Martin's first in Australia and just his 11th overall in an international career spanning seven years and 35 tests, which have reaped 112 wickets.
He played seven ODI matches in his debut season in 2000-01 but his batting was often seen as a liability in a team of multi-taskers. The likes of Shane Bond, James Franklin and Daryl Tuffey stood in the way.
Martin shifted from hometown Christchurch to Auckland, got fitter, and bulked up. He's now maintaining his pace in the early-to-mid 140km/h range for longer.
"Bulked up's definitely the wrong word. I'm wearing a small shirt," he said.
"When I started I was about 73kgs and now I'm about 85kgs. I've definitely put on some weight. Just to be stronger, fitter, healthier and a bit more professional.
"The speed's picked up as well, it means I can repeat the action I've got more often without losing it. If you look around most of the guys playing international cricket are strong sort of a people, there aren't too many skinny, limp-wristed boys like me."
Last summer was his best at domestic one-day level, taking 13 wickets for Auckland at 24.5 and an economy rate of 4.07, including three for seven to spark victory over Otago in the final.
He got summonsed to the Caribbean World Cup but didn't play a game. Ironically he feels that was his breakthrough tour.
"The World Cup experience showed me I was making inroads without playing.
"The attitude I had was that I'd always play and it was the only way I could cope with knowing in the back of my mind there were 12 guys ahead of me.
"When I got here I felt all the work I'd done on my one-day game in the last six months has helped me get in that side.
"As far as deserving to be in the place I am now, I have over the last year or two. Before that I was realistic enough to know that my batting and my style of bowling wasn't what they were looking for."
It's also meant a rare long tour for Martin, and a feeling of finally belonging.
He's been on the road for nine weeks solid, through a tough tour of South Africa, confirmed Graham Smith as his batting bunny, and into his jousts with Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting with a confident air.
"I feel part of the whole unit instead of part of just the test side. A lot of the guys have more a kinship, more of a group feeling if they're in both forms of the game.
"I've always felt a little bit left out. For me to be involved in both tours is quite huge.
"I still have perhaps a little bit to prove at that level, that in the last few years I could have got a go."
He might be an unlikely character for a fast bowler but Martin has a common dream - to top 150km/h on the speedball radar.
"I do watch the radar because I have an ego being a fast bowler. Around 147km/h is about as quick as I've got. I don't know if the radar's been pumped up but I got up to mid-140s in Adelaide.
"At 33 I don't know how much more speed I can get. But if I can keep bowling what I am there's a couple of years left."
And an early Christmas present from the Australians this week.
The selectors decided to give Gilchrist a rest from tomorrow's Chappell-Hadlee Trophy decider, and Brad Haddin a chance.
Martin's reaction?
"Always pleased that he's not playing," he said, before qualifying the response.
"But I get a buzz out of playing top quality players and if my A game's not good enough then I'll know about it."
- NZPA
