Chris Martin - New Zealand - Bowler

Known as the 'PhanTom' for his comical inability with the bat, Chris Martin is a legend on YouTube - where videos have focused on his largely absent batting skills. With the ball though, he is an evergreen trier and is one of eleven New Zealand cricketers to have taken 100 test wickets.

With a wiry frame, he ambles in and delivers the ball with a high leaping action. His modus-operandi is to angle it in from wide of the crease and then produce the ball that straightens around off stump. With Shane Bond unavailable for most of the time, he has had to shoulder the mantle of leading the attack and has done a reasonably good job of it. His test best of 11/180 against South Africa was a testament to his never give up attitude as he bowled his side to victory.

Martin relies more on assistance from the pitch and is a seam bowler who can bowl long spells. Strangely for a bowler who is very miserly, he was never considered as a serious contender to play ODIs and has played only 20 ODIs till date. It's his batting that has provided more humor to the crowd than his metronomic bowling. He has more ducks than any other New Zealand cricketer and didn't notch up a double figure score till his 36th test match.

Chris Martin even had his eye checkup done to see whether there was a problem in sighting the ball, and tests revealed that he had a problem. The problem was he wasn't gleaning enough visual information quickly enough. 'Essentially the relaying of information from my eyes to my reflexes and what I do with my body is a little bit slow,' Martin explains. 'I don't react the way I should [he clicks his fingers for emphasis]. It does take me a while to cue into the ball and locate it.'

Though he is 36 years old, the Kiwi selectors have kept faith in him and entrusted him with a central contract for the 2010-11 season. Martin has 199 test wickets and is the fourth highest wicket taker in New Zealand history, behind Richard Hadlee, Daniel Vettori and Chris Cairns.

Martin reached the 200 wicket landmark against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in November, 2011. He was also involved in the great Test match where New Zealand beat Australia after 26 years. With the experience on hand, Martin helped his junior bowlers to bowl the Aussies out and record a famous win, he too picked up 4 wickets in the match. After that there was a devastating spell against Zimbabwe in Napier, where he took 6 wickets for just 26 runs and helped his side to win by an innings and 301 runs, which till date is the largest victory for New Zealand in terms of runs.

Martin then had a dip in form at the fag end of 2012 and start of 2013, he then decided that there is a good crop of fast bowlers coming up and it is time for him to let go. Martin retired from all forms of cricket in July, 2013 at the age of 38. He ended his career with 233 Test wickets and is the third highest wicket-taker for New Zealand.

Interesting facts: Chris Martin's dubious batting skills have prompted him to feature in a video called 'Learn to bat like Chris Martin' - a clip which is a rage on YouTube.

He was signed up for a bat deal with Aerosport and proudly displays the sponsor's logo when he strides out to the crease.

Legend has it that it was too awkward for Martin to bring batting gear to practice so he only bowled.

Martin has the rather dubious honor of belonging to a select group of cricketers whose number of wickets taken exceeds runs scored; and perhaps the only man in the history of cricket to have this feat in all forms of the game.

By Srivathsa
As of April 2014