Damien Martyn - Our Most Boring Batsman ?

Stunning Steve McKee · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2003 12:03 pm

Time for some humble pie (pardun the pun) I believe is called for here.

Well done to Marto & all the boys ! Laughing

Special Delivery · Joined: 27 Jul 2002 Location: From Sydney to Melbourne

The silence is deafening.

Mind you I also thought Martyn had to go.

Humble tastes nice sometimes. It gives you great powers of perception.

Wish those Bevan knockers would have a slice.

Can't hear anything boys...

JLC · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2003 2:54 pm

They were bowling garbage last night......Only Singh and Nehra bowled ok

it aint that hard to hit legside full tosses

jlc

Special Delivery · Joined: 27 Jul 2002 Location: From Sydney to Melbourne

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...let it go my friend...let it go....

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Wink

JLC · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2003 5:12 pm

Anyway who got man of the match and player of the tournament etc ??

I wanna hear who won the awards

jlc

Donny · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2003 5:40 pm

I already posted that info, m8. Page 3 of the World Cup Final thread, 4th. post up from yours.

Not that you would've needed to be a rocket scientist to work them out!

JLC · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2003 6:49 pm

So Ponting got player of the match.............that was easy

So Tendulkar got player of the tournament.........interesting

However Tendulkar already stated that individual awards don't mean much to him as he plays for India and not himself Smile

jlc

Donny · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2003 7:39 pm

What was interesting about Tendulkar winning Player of the Series? Wasn't it obvious? He hit heaps of runs and only let India down once.

Continued in the WC final thread.

Special Delivery · Joined: 27 Jul 2002 Location: From Sydney to Melbourne

If you run out of straws to clutch JLC, I can courier some more over to you if you like...

Razz

JLC · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2003 3:09 pm

The best player won the award for the best player. End of Story

The best team won the world cup

jlc

Donny · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2003 12:18 am

> Bob Simpson said Damien Martyn's knock was more influential than even the 140 not out from Ponting.

"I thought Damien was the one that swung the game because Rick was struggling early on and Damien came in very calm and measured and helped his captain along the way."

Donny · Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2004 10:43 am

Damien reshapes mould

Comment by Robert Craddock in Nagpur - Fox Sports

DAMIEN MARTYN has proved us all wrong.

By us I mean me, you, your dad, your Saturday drinking mates, your work buddies, the whole damn lot of us who this time last year were branding him an over-rated player and an unworthy custodian of the coveted No.4 Test spot.

It seemed everyone had a reason why Martyn had to go. His stats were solid but not great. He didn't move his feet. He was too airy outside off stump.

He gave too many catches to gully. He scored plenty of 40s but when did he ever win us a match?

Well, last year's man under siege has become today's star.

Did you know he has scored more calendar year Test runs (875 at 51) than any other Australian batsman, yet as recently as a fortnight ago there was speculation he could be the batsman squeezed out of the Test team when Ricky Ponting returns next week?

Yesterday he passed Victor Trumper and Lindsay Hassett on Australia's run-scorers list.

Of his nine Test centuries, seven have come overseas.

He is averaging more than 50 on foreign soil.

All this from a man who ... you know the story.

It seems people have trouble warming to Martyn and giving him his just desserts because they feel they don't know him.

Few people do.

He is not an "out there" person. Even a lot of his teammates who have played with him for years say they don't feel as if they really know him. He is reserved by nature, the antithesis of his great mate Adam Gilchrist who is at home at corporate functions, whereas Martyn has no love of them.

He does not enjoy media attention. At times he seemed close to snapping last year as was evidenced by the finger he gave to a photographer. To his credit he got through his rough patch by backing his own unique game.

He has certainly tightened up a bit - New Zealand captain Steve Fleming said as much last month - but he still loves the cut shot and all those glides through gully that got him into trouble last year.

Martyn has been through all styles as a batsman - he was a teenage hell-raiser then, like Steve Waugh, forged a passage as a Test player by shedding the extravagance from his game.

Now he is a bit of everything.

Yesterday saw some high quality defence against seaming balls, some blistering straight drives off Anil Kumble and some cheeky sweep shots where he dragged the ball from outside off stump.

You can't time those shots like he did yesterday unless you are seeing the ball like a pumpkin.

But above all he has proven himself mentally strong. Players raised on Perth's bouncy wickets are generally not known for their ability against spin.

But, with those wonderful soft hands of his, Martyn is reshaping the mould.

Australia have been so blessed by superstar players in recent eras we tend to mark all players by extremely high standards - forgetting there is a place for the next level down who, like Martyn, do a fine job without demanding entrance to the hall of fame.

Donny · Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2004 11:01 am

Our most boring batsman ?? Long may he bore us. Wink

Johnson#26 · Joined: 18 Dec 2003

Boring - Yes Talented - Yes. Consistant - Yes.

The positives out weigh the negatives.

favourites 2008 · The Machine Joined: 11 Aug 2003 Location: Mooroolbark

Our third best batsmen behind Haydos and Ponting