Sidney Hugh Martin (11 January 1909 – 13 February 1988) was a South African

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

er who played 267 first-class games in both South African and English cricket. He was the uncle of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

Hugh Tayfield Hugh Joseph Tayfield (30 January 1929 – 24 February 1994) was a South African international cricketer. He played 37 Test matches for South Africa between 1949 and 1960 and was one of the best off spinners the game has seen. He was the faste ...

. Martin made his first-class debut in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

for

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

against Eastern Province in March 1926, taking two second-innings wickets including that of Arthur Ochse. He played two more games (both also against Natal) the following season, taking six wickets in the first match and scoring 64

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

in the first innings of the second game. In 1929 Martin made his debut in England, playing for MCC against

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

at Lord's, and although he returned to Natal during the English winters,Obituary. ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' 1990. he played no further cricket outside England until after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. He appeared quite regularly for MCC in 1929 and 1930; his best bowling return for them was the 7/43 he claimed in the first innings against the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

in July 1929, while his highest score was the 97 he made against the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

in August 1930. In 1931 Martin made a rather low-key

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

debut, taking two wickets and scoring 4 against the

New Zealanders New Zealanders ( mi, Tāngata Aotearoa), colloquially known as Kiwis (), are people associated with New Zealand, sharing a common history, culture, and language (New Zealand English). People of various ethnicities and national origins are citiz ...

. He began his

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

career the following season, and remained a stalwart of the side until the outbreak of war. He just failed to score his thousand first-class runs for the season in 1932, but reached the landmark every year from 1933 to 1939, while in both 1937 and 1939 he achieved the

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

. His most productive year with the bat was 1935, in which he hit five centuries, including his career best, a first-innings 191 * versus

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

. As a bowler, he three times took eight wickets in an innings, the best of these returns (and the best of his career) being the 8/24 he claimed against Sussex in August 1939, with match figures of 13/88. The war then intervened, and indeed he never played first-class cricket in England again. His next appearance was back with Natal, playing against

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

in a match starting on Boxing Day 1945. He played a full Currie Cup campaign with Natal in 1946/47, and in November 1946 took 5/32 against

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, wh ...

. From 1947/48 until the end of his career in 1949/50, Martin represented Rhodesia, now having moved to live there. For them, his best performance was the 6/49 he took against a touring MCC side at

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

in February 1949. He captained the Rhodesia team on four occasions. Although he never acted as an

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

in a first-class match, he did stand (with

Paul Gibb Paul Antony Gibb (11 July 1913 – 7 December 1977) was an English cricketer, who played in eight Tests for England from 1938 to 1946. He played first-class cricket for Cambridge University, Yorkshire and Essex, as a right-handed opening or mid ...

) in Worcestershire's centenary single-innings game against MCC in 1965. Other than his nephew Hugh Tayfield (mentioned above) three of Martin's other relatives played first-class cricket: his son

Hugh Martin Hugh Martin (August 11, 1914 – March 11, 2011) was an American musical theater and film composer, arranger, vocal coach, and playwright. He was best known for his score for the 1944 MGM musical ''Meet Me in St. Louis'', in which Judy Garland ...

, and two other nephews Arthur Tayfield and Cyril Tayfield.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Sidney South African cricketers Worcestershire cricketers KwaZulu-Natal cricketers Rhodesia cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers 1909 births 1988 deaths Cricketers from Durban