[1]West Indies leg-spinner Anthony Martin, who produced a career-best spell in his team's win over India in the fourth ODI, said bowling to Rahul Dravid five years ago led him to believe that he could have a career in international cricket.
"There was this practice game against India in 2006. Dravid hit my first ball for a four and was gone off the second, caught in the slips," remembers the leg-spinner whose 4/36 led to India's 103-run loss in the fourth one-dayer here on Monday.
"I remember telling myself: Hey, here is this batsman who I watch thrash international bowlers all over the world on television. If I can pick him, I can play international cricket'."
"It was also a game where I took Virender Sehwag's catch. The man just stood in the middle and didn't want to leave the pitch. I ran around the stadium in celebration."
A firefighter by profession, Martin's story is one of triumph over adversity as a debilitating injury once almost finished his budding career.
"I represented Leeward Islands in under-15 cricket as a paceman in 1998. But then I suffered a serious injury and damaged my back.
"Since I love this game so much, I started bowling off breaks. Now my Antigua Under-19 coach told me the team has two good off-spinners. So I turn to leg-spin. I always used to bowl a couple of deliveries of leg-spin in the nets as a sort of warm-up. I knew something about it so started working on it."
Links:
[1] http://103.241.136.51/martinjpgcropdisplayjpg-632