Frederick Martin
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 England (Eng) |
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| Batting style | Left-handed batsman (LHB) | |
| Bowling type | Left-arm medium | |
| Tests | First-class | |
| Matches | 2 | 317 |
| Runs scored | 14 | 4,545 |
| Batting average | 7.00 | 7.00 |
| 100s/50s | 0/0 | 0/0 |
| Top score | 13 | 13 |
| Balls bowled | 410 | 67,794 |
| Wickets | 14 | 1,317 |
| Bowling average | 10.07 | 17.38 |
| 5 wickets in innings | 2 | 95 |
| 10 wickets in match | 1 | 23 |
| Best bowling | 6/50 | 8/45 |
| Catches/stumpings | 2/0 | 120/0 |
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Test debut: 11 August 1890 |
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Frederick Martin (born October 12, 1861, Dartford, Kent, England; died December 13, 1921, Dartford, Kent, England) was a Kent left arm spinner who was that county's chief bowler in the early years of the County Championship. Quicker than most left-arm spinners and without the subtle flight of Briggs or variation of pace of Peel, Martin relied more than anything on an 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 his spin and was generally only dangerous when the pitches gave him a good deal of assistance — something that became less and less frequent as pitches in dry weather were improving very rapidly during 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 in an emergency, who hit one score of 90 against Nottinghamshire in 1897.
Martin was in his prime the leading bowler not only for Kent, but also for the MCC, who at that time played many matches against counties Middlesex could not afford to arrange fixtures with. Because of the competition between Peel and Briggs for an England place, Martin only played one Test when Briggs was injured, Yorkshire refused to let off Peel, and a sticky wicket meant a left-handed spinner was essential. He seized his opportunity excellently, taking twelve wickets for 102 runs, but had declined before he had a chance of being chosen again.
Martin played for Kent in one match in 1885 and played regularly from the following year, doing excellently in a few matches in 1886 but disappointing in the exceptionally dry summer of 1887. However, in the exceptionally wet summer of 1888 he took 73 wickets for 10.83 each, including 10 for 50 against Sussex. This firmly established Martin as Kent's left-arm spinner, and the following year, given much more bowling, Martin took over 100 wickets for the first time.
From this, Martin rose in 1890 to his greatest height: for both Kent and MCC he was a formidable bowler in the damp summer and took 190 wickets for under 14 each, including 12 in the Third Test at The Oval. In 1891, an even wetter summer, he was almost as effective, and was named as a Cricketer of the Year by Wisden but was seen as unlikely to do well in Australia so was never considered for that winter's tour.
1892 and 1893, however, brought a pronounced decline in Martin's fortunes because he could not spin the ball as much, but the wet summer of 1894 saw him forming a formidable combination with Walter Hearne (a brother of Jack Hearne of Middlesex fame) - they bowled unchanged against Surrey at Catford and Martin took 11 for 29 in the opening game against Sussex. 1895 was a mixed season highlighted by four wickets in four balls for MCC against the newly promoted Derbyshire eleven at Lord's. However, for Kent he was very expensive until the wickets became treacherous in mid-July, and even then the Martin of 1890 would have certainly been more deadly. 1896 was a modest year, and by 1898 it was clear Martin was past his prime though he made a surprising advance as a batsman in these years - probably due to much better pitches. Martin lost his place in the Kent eleven in 1899 to be succeeded by the much more famous Colin Blythe. he was a regular umpire for two seasons in 1902 and 1903.
