William Trevor Martin (19 February 1925 – 4 August 2017) was a New Zealand

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 ...

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'', ...

Early life and family

Born in

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

on 19 February 1925, Martin was educated at

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it runs a private preparatory school for year 7 and 8 boys. The school also has ...

from 1939 to 1940. In 1951, he married Ngaire Dawn Wilmshurst in Nelson.

Cricket umpiring career

Martin was an umpire in

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 ...

from December 1958 to January 1978. A substantial majority of his first-class matches as umpire were played at

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

Basin Reserve The Basin Reserve (commonly known as "The Basin") is a cricket ground in Wellington, New Zealand. It has been used for Test matches, and is the main home ground for the Wellington Firebirds first-class team. The Basin Reserve is the only crick ...

. He also umpired six List A one-day matches. He stood in 15 Test matches between 1963 and 1973. All of the Test matches he umpired were played in New Zealand. He made his debut as a Test umpire in the 2nd Test between

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at the Basin Reserve in Wellington in March 1963, standing with Douglas Dumbleton. In that match, the unbeaten partnership of 163 between

Colin Cowdrey Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, (24 December 19324 December 2000) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Oxford University (1952–1954), Kent County Cricket Club (1950–1976) and England (1954–1975). Univers ...

(128*, coming in down the batting order at number 8) and Alan Smith (69*) for the ninth wicket in England's first innings set a world record which stood until 1967, when

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

's Asif Iqbal and

Intikhab Alam Intikhab Alam Khan (Urdu:) (born 28 December 1941) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer who played in 47 Test matches and four One Day Internationals from 1959 to 1977. He captained Pakistan in 17 Tests between 1969 and 1975. He a ...

reached 190 for the ninth wicket. Cowdrey and Smith's ninth-wicket partnership remains a record for England. Later that month, he umpired the 3rd Test between New Zealand and England, at

Lancaster Park Lancaster Park, also known as Jade Stadium and AMI Stadium for sponsorship reasons, was a sports stadium in Waltham, a suburb of Christchurch in New Zealand. The stadium was closed permanently due to damage sustained in the February 2011 eart ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, where

Fred Trueman Frederick Sewards Trueman, (6 February 1931 – 1 July 2006) was an English cricketer who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. He had professional status and later became an author and broadcaster. Acknowled ...

took his 243rd Test wicket, passing

Brian Statham John Brian Statham, (17 June 1930 – 10 June 2000) was an English professional cricketer from Gorton, in Manchester, who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1950 to 1968 and for England from 1951 to 1965.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 ...

at Wellington in February 1964 which was disrupted by damage to the pitch caused by anti-apartheid demonstrators. He umpired the first List A match in New Zealand, partnered by Dennis Copps. It was a match of 40 eight-ball overs a side, between

and the touring MCC at the Basin Reserve in February 1971. He and Tony Mackintosh both stood in their last Test as umpire in the 3rd Test between New Zealand and Pakistan at Eden Park in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

in February 1973. The tenth wicket partnership of 151 between

Brian Hastings Brian Frederick Hastings (born 23 March 1940) is a former New Zealand cricketer. A middle-order batsman, he played 31 Test matches between 1969 and 1976, scoring four centuries. He played first-class cricket for Wellington, Central Districts a ...

(110) and

Richard Collinge Richard Owen Collinge (born 2 April 1946) is a former New Zealand cricketer, who played 35 Tests and 15 ODIs. He was New Zealand Cricket Almanack Player of the Year in 1971. Domestic career He played domestic cricket for three different sides. ...

(68*) in New Zealand's first innings was a world record until 2013. New Zealand

opening batsman In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

Rodney Redmond scored 107 and 56; this was to be the only Test match in which he was to play, leaving him with a Test batting average of 81.50. In the

1978 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1978 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginn ...

, Martin was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, for services to cricket.

Death

Martin died in

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

on 4 August 2017.

References

External links

Profile
from Cricinfo
Lists of matches
from CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, William Trevor 1925 births 2017 deaths Sportspeople from Nelson, New Zealand People educated at Nelson College New Zealand Test cricket umpires New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire