March 24, 2003	Monday	Muharram 20, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

JOHANNESBURG, March 23: Damien Martyn is the best kept secret in Australian cricket and he proved it again in Sunday’s World Cup final against India.

Martyn scored a brilliant unbeaten 88 from just 84 balls despite the handicap of a fractured right index finger, but not for the first time the major headlines went elsewhere as captain Ricky Ponting produced a brutal 140 not out from just 121 deliveries.

Martyn has made a habit of slipping into the background.

On the same ground last year he made a brilliant Test match hundred against South Africa but it was all but forgotten as Adam Gilchrist smashed a double century.

That lack of recognition might upset some players, but not Martyn.

“We do joke about it in the dressing room, about certain players grabbing the headlines all the time,” the 31 year-old said earlier in the tournament.

“I guess it could frustrate you as batting is my craft, you try to do it well and you don’t get too many hundreds or significant scores in your career.

“But the way the likes of Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting have been batting, you just can’t compete with that so it really doesn’t bother me.

“The way I see it, you could be in the press for making a hundred or a negative thing but if you are not there at all then you are just in the background, being quiet and everyone’s leaving you alone.”

Martyn is now a senior player for Australia, having made his debut at international level ten years ago, but although he is a key figure within the side his public profile is virtually non-existent.

Again, however, he is more than happy with that.

“In the team I’m outgoing but I haven’t gone out of my way to get a newspaper column or do adverts or become a public figure,” he said.

“My character in the public sense is quieter, not so much shy as just keeping myself to myself.

“You look at Adam Gilchrist, Matt Hayden, Glenn McGrath and Ricky Ponting and others and they are the big players.

“In a team sense you are always going to get the stars who have the endorsements but I don’t worry about that and I don’t think I should be getting the deals anyway.

“At the moment I’m just looking to play and taking everything on board because this could be my last World Cup and I want to enjoy it as you can’t play forever.”

Martyn’s contribution is certainly not underplayed by his team mates.

Ponting was desperate to get him back into the side despite his finger injury, and the way he played on Sunday it was clear to see why.

The fact Martyn took the field just eight days after fracturing his finger was the latest example of the desire the Australia players have to get on the field at all costs.

It also showed that when they do get on the field, they also deliver.

That desire was shown most famously by current Test captain Steve Waugh in 2001 when he made it onto the ground just 19 days after tearing a calf muscle. Although nowhere near fit, he still made a brilliant 157 not out against England.

It comes from a love of the game and a love of the team and flag. It may also be a recognition that, such is the competition for places in the Australia side, players cannot risk giving up their spots for any length of time.

Martyn knows that all too well. After being dropped in 1994, it took him four years to get back into the one-day side and six years to win another Test cap.

Although he was in the World Cup squad four years ago, he did not make the side for the final against Pakistan and he felt this would be his last chance to play in the final.

After practising on Saturday, he and the team’s medical staff decided he was fit enough to play and the reward for that decision was a partnership of 234 between Martyn and Ponting, a third wicket record for Australia in one-day matches.

Martyn’s appearance was another feather in the cap of long-serving team physiotherapist Errol Alcott, who has been performing near miracles ever since starting work with the team in 1984.—Reuters