Frederick Martin

Who was Frederick Martin?

Frederick Martin was a Kent left-arm spinner who was that county's leading bowler in the early years of the County Championship. Quicker than most bowlers of his type, and without the subtle flight of Johnny Briggs or Bobby Peel's variation of pace, Martin relied more than anything on his amazing accuracy of length. At his peak in the early 1890s, Martin had as much spin as any of his rivals in county cricket, but, from 1892, he lost much of it and was generally only dangerous when the pitches gave him a good deal of assistance – something which became less and less frequent as, in dry weather, they improved rapidly through the 1890s. In his early days, Martin was a very poor batsman, but, by the end of his career, he had developed into a handy lower-order player, especially in an emergency. He hit one score of ninety against Nottinghamshire in 1897.

Martin was, in his prime, the foremost bowler not only for Kent but also the MCC, which, at the time, played many matches against counties with which Middlesex could not afford to arrange fixtures. Because of the competition with Peel and Briggs for an England place, Martin played only one Test Match, when Briggs was injured, Yorkshire refused to let Peel play and a sticky wicket meant that a left-arm orthodox spinner was essential. He seized his opportunity excellently, taking twelve wickets for 102 runs, but he declined before he had another chance of being chosen.