Cricket: Teenage spin star keen to play Aussies

By TERRY MADDAFORD

If Bruce Martin is worried about testing his ability as a left-arm spinner against the all-conquering Australian cricketers in the four-day match starting in Hamilton on Sunday, he is not showing it.

Northern Districts 19-year-old Martin cannot wait to bowl against the world's best in only the fourth first-class match of his fledgling career when the two sides square off at WestpacTrust Park.

A real bonus - aside from taking wickets - will be the chance to bowl in tandem with Daniel Vettori.

"We did that in a warm-up game against Auckland earlier in the season and I really enjoyed it," said Martin, who bagged 12 Auckland wickets in last week's Shell Trophy victory which catapulted Northern to the top of the points table.

"It will be important against batsmen of that calibre to get the length right, keep them on the front foot and not bowl any loose balls."

Martin's rise through the ND ranks continues an amazing spinning tradition.

From the time Cliff Dickeson ruled the spinning roost through to Matthew Hart, Vettori and now Martin, Northern have produced some of the country's best left-arm spin bowlers.

It is hardly coincidental that under New Zealand Cricket's mentor scheme, Martin's "boss" is Dickeson. While Dickeson's record of 282 wickets for ND is a long way off, Martin has already done better on a couple of counts than the man he sees as a legend.

Dickeson's best match figures were 11 for 142 against Wellington in 1979-80 and his best in an innings seven for 79 the following season against Central Districts. Martin took 12 for 55 in Taupo, including an innings-best seven for 33.

Yet, despite his incredible effort in helping to dismiss the former competition leaders for 131 and 149, Martin says he managed to get only two balls to turn - the second ending the match when he had Chris Drum caught by wicketkeeper Robbie Hart for a duck.

And the news travelled quickly.

His parents, now farming on the New South Wales-Victoria border in Australia first heard from Martin's aunt, with whom he stays in Hamilton. By the time he rang his parents, they had also checked it out on the Internet.

It was a real thrill for his father, as Martin had first turned his arm over in a paddock on the family's Kerikeri farm in backyard "test" matches.

He progressed through the Northern Districts coaching programme and was a member of New Zealand Cricket's 1998 academy, playing three tests and two one-day games against England A. His 18 wickets in the three longer games underlined his ability.

A clash with the last of the ODIs cost him the chance of a first-class debut against Central Districts in Wanganui last season.