Chris Martin (cricketer)

Chris Martin

Personal information
Full name	Christopher Stewart Martin
Nickname	"The Phantom"
Batting	Right-hand bat
Bowling	Right-arm fast-medium
Role	Bowler
International information
National side	New Zealand
Test debut (cap 211)	17 November 2000 v South Africa
Last Test	11 December 2009 v Pakistan
ODI debut (cap 119)	2 January 2001 v Zimbabwe
Last ODI	23 February 2008 v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2005–present	Auckland
2008	Warwickshire
1997–2004	Canterbury
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC List A Matches – – – – Runs scored – – – – Batting average – – – – 100s/50s –/– –/– –/– –/– Top score – – – – Balls bowled – – – – Wickets – – – – Bowling average – – – – 5 wickets in innings – – – – 10 wickets in match – – – – Best bowling – – – – Catches/stumpings –/– –/– –/– –/–
Source: CricketArchive, 19 December 2009

Chris Martin (born Christopher Stewart Martin, 10 December 1974, Christchurch) is a New Zealand cricketer. A right-arm fast-medium bowler, Martin now plays provincial cricket for Auckland, having formerly played for the Canterbury Wizards. He also signed for the English county cricket side, Warwickshire, for their 2008 domestic campaign.

Martin is one of eleven New Zealand Test cricketers to have taken 100 wickets. Although predominantly a Test bowler, Martin moved back into contention for one-day internationals after International Cricket Council rule changes permitted substitutions during games. Although the rule has since been revoked, Martin has remained on the fringes of the ODI squad and was called up to the New Zealand World Cup 2007 squad, as a replacement for the injured Daryl Tuffey.

Martin is an archetypal tail-end batsman. His batting gets more publicity than his bowling. Geoffrey Boycott has described his efforts with the willow as "hopeless", while former New Zealand international turned Sky Sports pundit, Martin Crowe, dubbed him 'the worst batsman ever to play the game' and 'the worst batsman in the history of cricket'. In addition to this, Martin has the rather dubious honour of belonging to a select group of cricketers whose number of wickets taken exceeds runs scored; Bhagwat Chandrasekhar is the only other cricketer to have achieved this 'honour' (assuming a qualification of 30 Tests played). Martin also holds the record for the most pairs recorded in Test match history.

However, in 2009 he helped save a Test match against Sri Lanka, when he defended 13 balls while his batting partner, Daniel Vettori, went on to score 140. Nevertheless, as of November 2009, his Test match batting average remains under 2.35.

External links

• Chris Martin at ESPNcricinfo
• Chris Martin at CricketArchive (subscription required)