Anthony Martin (cricketer)
Encyclopedia
Anthony Martin is a West Indian cricketer. He has been an impressive first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 cricketer, and has represented the West Indies national cricket team in One Day International matches. He had been a fast bowler in his Under-15 days, but an accident injured his back and he could not bowl fast anymore. He reverted to offspin but his Under-19 coach said he had to change his style due to they already having two established offspiners. He therefore changed to legspin.

Career

Anthony Martin, a legspin bowler, made his domestic debut for the Leeward Islands
Leeward Islands cricket team
The Leeward Islands cricket team is a first class cricket team representing the member countries of the Leeward Islands Cricket Association, a regional association which again is part of the West Indies Cricket Board. Contrary to the normal English definition of the Leeward Islands, Dominica is not...

 in 2008 and had a solid, if not spectacular record over four seasons. He first came to prominence in the 2010-11 WICB Cup where his hat-trick in the semi-final put Leeward Islands into the final. He also had the best economy rate of 2.82 in the competition. As a result of his performances, he was selected in West Indies's preliminary 30-man squad for the 2011 Cricket World Cup
2011 Cricket World Cup
The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. It was Bangladesh's first time co-hosting a World Cup...

, but eventually did not make it to the final squad.

The decision to axe both Sulieman Benn
Sulieman Benn
Sulieman Jamaal Benn is a West Indian cricketer who plays international cricket for the West Indies and first-class cricket for Barbados....

 and Nikita Miller
Nikita Miller
Nikita O'Brien Miller is a West Indian cricketer who plays international cricket for the West Indies and domestic cricket for Jamaica. He is a slow left-arm orthodox bowler and lower-order batsman...

 after the World Cup finally brought about his One Day International debut against the Pakistan national cricket team. He made his debut on April 25, 2011 in the second match of the five-match ODI series, at the Beausejour Cricket Ground at Gros Islet Quarter
Gros Islet Quarter
Gros Islet is the newest town in Saint Lucia, having been recently promoted from a village to a town. It is the location of the Beausejour Cricket Grounds where both One Day International and Test Cricket is played. Parts of the 2007 Cricket World Cup and 2010 ICC World Twenty20 where played there...

, Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia is an island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 620 km2 and has an...

. Pakistan won the match by 7 wickets.

The next series against India went very well for Martin. In the 4th ODI, the West Indies defeated the Indians by 103 runs. Anthony Martin was the man of the match for his spectacular performance when he took bowling figures of 4/36 in 10 overs. By the process, Martin's bowling figures became the fourth best bowling performance by a West Indian bowler against India in ODIs since 2005.

After the match, he was interviewed for his brilliant four-wicket haul in his just 5th One-Day International
One-day International
A One Day International is a form of limited overs cricket, in which a fixed number of overs, usually 50, but in the past 40, 45 or 60 overs, are played between two teams with international status. The Cricket World Cup is played in this format...

. In one of the most delighting interviews of the tour (described so by Cricinfo
Cricinfo
ESPNcricinfo is believed to be the largest cricket-related website on the World Wide Web. Content includes news,articles, live scorecards,live text commentary and a comprehensive and searchable database called 'StatsGuru', of historical matches and players from the 18th century to the present...

), Martin said,"No one comes here and destroy me on my pitch (Antigua). This is my pitch. I don't care who they are. I am here to destroy whoever I play against. I am so glad that I did it against India, the world champions."

He also revealed the incident that had given him the confidence that he could play international cricket. He was bowling for Antigua XI in a practice match against India in 2006. Indian batsman Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...

 hit his first delivery for a boundary and the next delivery he was out, caught in the slips. Martin thought if he could get Dravid, he could someday also play international cricket. He also took Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag , affectionately known as Viru, the Nawab of Najafgarh, or the Zen master of modern cricket, is one of the leading batsmen in the Indian cricket team. Sehwag is an aggressive right-handed opening batsman and a part-time right-arm off-spin bowler...

's catch in the match.

Martin has been selected for West Indies's limited-overs squad in their tour of Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

 in 2011/12.

The first match of the tour was a lone Twenty20
Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...

 played at the Shere-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium, Mirpur
Mirpur Thana
Mirpur is a thana of Dhaka city, Bangladesh. It is bounded by Pallabi Thana to the north, Mohammadpur Thana to the south, Kafrul to the east - to the west it is bounded by Savar Upazila.-Geography:Mirpur is located at...

, Dhaka
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...

. As the Bangladesh national cricket team scored a shocking victory over the favorites West Indies, Martin finished with one wicket. He took the wicket of Bangladeshi opener Imrul Kayes
Imrul Kayes
Imrul Kayes is a Bangladeshi international cricketer who plays for Khulna Division as a left-hand batsman and occasional wicket-keeper....

, caught by Danza Hyatt
Danza Hyatt
Danza Pacino Hyatt is a Jamaican cricketer. A right-hand batsman and occasional medium pace bowler, Hyatt made his first-class cricket debut for West Indies B against Kenya in January 2004...

, just when the opening pair was looking quite troublesome. He also took two catches, of Mohammad Ashraful
Mohammad Ashraful
Mohammad Ashraful is a Bangladeshi international cricket player and has represented the Bangladesh national cricket team. A top-order batsman with a penchant for flashy strokeplay, he has also been selected to represent ACC Asia XI ODI side...

 caught off the bowling of Marlon Samuels
Marlon Samuels
Marlon Nathaniel Samuels is a West Indian cricketer. Samuels made his Test debut in Australia in 2000, and his One Day International debut against Sri Lanka in Nairobi during the ICC Knockout Trophy in the same year....

 and of Alak Kapali, caught off Carlos Brathwaite. It was Brathwaite's first international wicket.

He also represented West Indies in the One-Day International
One-day International
A One Day International is a form of limited overs cricket, in which a fixed number of overs, usually 50, but in the past 40, 45 or 60 overs, are played between two teams with international status. The Cricket World Cup is played in this format...

 series, but not in the Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 series.

In the next series against India, he was selected as usual in the limited-overs squads, in which Sunil Narine
Sunil Narine
Sunil Philip Narine, born 26 May 1988 in Trinidad, is a West Indian cricketer who played in the 2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka. He has since appeared in first-class cricket for Trinidad and Tobago.-References:...

 and Jason Mohammed
Jason Mohammed
Jason Nazimuddin Mohammed, born 23 September 1986 in Trinidad, is a West Indian cricketer who plays first-class and List A cricket for Trinidad and Tobago.-References:...

 were also surprise selections.

Personal life

Apart from playing cricket for the West Indies as a legbreak bowler, he also works in a small fire station in the All Saints neighbourhood, Antigua
Antigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...

. He had joined them in 2002, at the age of 20 and has been listed on the red shift. Sergeant Harry said about him,"He handles himself well in emergency situations. He is usually jumping around and excited, but during an emergency he knows what to do and does it well".
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