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Martyn savours moment

Source: smh.com.au - October 22, 2006

Damien Martyn had been counting down the days for the chance to take on England again and he made Andrew Flintoff's men pay for the pain they caused Australia in the 2005 Ashes series.

Martyn put on a master-class in elegant strokeplay, top-scoring with a classy 78 from 91 balls and leading Australia to a six-wicket triumph in Saturday's Champions Trophy Group-A clash.

He said he was thrilled to have won the man-of-match award on his 35th birthday.

But the main gift he wanted was the chance to inflict some misery on England.

"It was good all round," said a beaming Martyn.

"We've been waiting for this game for a long time, since we left England (after Australia's 2005 Ashes series loss).

"We enjoyed the moment because we've had a lot of bad moments. The boys bowled well, we fielded well and it was good to get a partnership with (Michael Hussey).

"It was a shame I couldn't be there at the end but it was good to get some runs."

Chasing just 170 to win, Australia had slumped to 3-34 before a rescue mission was launched by Martyn and Hussey (32 not out).

In a fighting knock, Martyn raced to his half-century from 35 balls and hit 12 fours in total, falling in the 35th over as Australia moved comfortably to 4-170 with more than 13 overs to spare.

The quietly determined Martyn was dropped from the Test team after averaging 19.77 in the 2005 Ashes series.

He returned for the South Africa and Bangladesh tours in April this year and the veteran of 65 Tests is keen to make the most of his chances this summer.

Martyn has averaged just 29.00, 31.33, 14.25 and 20.00 in his past four one-day series but captain Ricky Ponting says the right-hander has not been under any more pressure than usual to hold his place.

The pair shared an epic 234-run stand in the 2003 World Cup final against India in Johannesburg with Ponting making 140 not out and Martyn scoring an unbeaten 88 despite a broken finger.

Ponting says Martyn will be vital to Australia's chances of a successful Cup defence in the Caribbean next year.

"Individually, I'm sure Damien is quite pumped to get out there and play the way he did tonight," Ponting said.

"Coming in at No.4 is a difficult position to bat. You need to be a certain sort of player to fit in there and I think we all saw tonight how good a player Damien is and how he can win you games."