Martin playing with less fear
When Katey Martin played her first match for the White Ferns – a test against India – Twenty20 cricket had been around for less than six months.
That was in 2003, when she was only 18. Earlier this month, she turned 35 – and Twenty20 is now arguably the premier format in the women’s game.
The White Ferns made their way to Australia on Friday ahead of this year’s Twenty20 World Cup, which begins for them next Saturday (12am Sunday NZ time) with a match against Sri Lanka at the Waca in Perth.
It is the first of three major tournaments the team will have over the next 21⁄2 years, followed by the oneday World Cup on home soil next summer and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in winter 2022.
Martin might already have been around for nearly 17 years – almost as long as the team’s star legspinner Amelia Kerr has been alive – but she’d love to stay for a few more yet.
‘‘I joke that we had dial-up when we were in India on my first tour and some of the girls now don’t even know what that is,’’ she said this week, from University of Otago Oval in her hometown of Dunedin.
‘‘As I’ve gone on I’ve looked to play with less fear. I played with fear back in the day and with the advent of Twenty20, you have to play without fear and express yourself and I’ve just got better as the years have gone on and I’m comfortable with where my game is at.
‘‘Hopefully my experience over those years will help the team get through tough situations but I’m just really enjoying my cricket and I’m lucky to be still around.
‘‘Hopefully I’ve still got another year or two in me with a couple of World Cups and the Commonwealth Games – you never know what might happen.
‘‘I don’t know if we’ll get a test between now and then, but I’ve ticked off that box.’’
A wicketkeeper by trade, Martin played in all four of the White Ferns’ recent Twenty20s against South
Africa, but was only behind the stumps in the last one, with Rachel Priest donning the gloves for the first three.
The South African series ended on a bittersweet note for Martin, who was hoping to play at home in Dunedin for the first time in her international career in the series finale, only for rain to intervene.
While she has managed to play in a test match, something none of her current team-mates have done – the White Ferns’ last was in 2004 – a true home fixture still eludes her (and Suzie Bates, for that matter) and it’s a box she’d like to tick before her career comes to an end.
‘‘In 1999 when [the White Ferns] last played in Dunedin, I was one of the girls that hung around the team and I was in awe of the players that were there then,’’ Martin said.
‘‘Today we were hitting catches with little kids and hopefully in 10 or 15 years I’m out here watching them play for the White Ferns.
‘‘I think that’s real special, the opportunity to show kids that it’s possible to make a career out of playing cricket.
‘‘It’s the best time to be playing now, and people will have an opportunity to follow in our footsteps and we want to make sure we leave the game in a good space when we finish up.’’