OTD | New Zealand pacer Chris Martin was born in 1974

On this day in 1974, Chris Martin was born in New Zealand’s Christchurch. The star pacer has turned. He was known for his bowling action. Martin had 233 wickets in Tests, 18 wickets in ODIs, and 599 wickets to his name in the FC cricket. He played for teams like New Zealand, Canterbury, Auckland, Warwickshire, and Essex. Martin retired from all forms of cricket in 2013.

Martin has a lot of nicknames like The Phantom, Tommy, and Walking Wicket. In particular, the latter was given in the cricket fraternity for his inability to bat well enough. But his bowling compensated for it. Martin made his international debut for New Zealand on the 17th of November in 2000 during the Test against South Africa. He was NZ’s 211th capped Test player.

In ODIs, he debuted on the 2nd of January 2001 against Zimbabwe. He also made his T20I debut on the 12th of September 2007 against Kenya. Chris initially operated at a good pace. He often clocked around 138-140 kmph at his prime in the early 2000s. With time, the pacer lost his pace. But he regularly played for New Zealand for over a decade.

Martin played 71 Tests for the Kiwis. In as many matches, he claimed 233 wickets at a bowling average of 33.81 including 10 fifers and a 10-wicket haul to his name. His best figures in an innings was 6/26. Martin played 20 ODIs and took 18 wickets at a bowling average of 44.66 with best match figures of 3/62. He played in a time when NZ didn’t have a lot of good bowlers.

As younger bowlers like Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult, and others started to emerge, NZ slowly started to move away from Martin. He played his last Test against South Africa on the 2nd of January in 2013. In ODIs, his last appearance was against England on the 23rd of January in 2008. In T20Is, his last match was against England on the 7th of February in 2008.

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anne julliene

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