Kiwi spinner shocked by domestic snub

New Zealand

New Zealand Test spinner Bruce Martin was shocked to find himself out of as much as a domestic contract this week, as Auckland opted to give his place in the 15-man contract list to Tarun Nethula instead.

New Zealand Test spinner Bruce Martin was shocked to find himself out of as much as a domestic contract this week, as Auckland opted to give his place in the 15-man contract list to Tarun Nethula instead.

Martin made his debut in March 2013 against England, and went on to play five Tests. The last of which was against Bangladesh in October, and in 2014 he only played nine matches for Auckland.

Martin told <i>Dominion Post</i>: "I saw the New Zealand thing coming because the Bangladesh tour wasn't a great tour for me. But I thought I had a massive part to play in the Auckland team, especially them being a young side.

"I was keen to push on. I'd had a good couple of seasons and I wasn't far off 400 first-class wickets (he has 355).

"I thought by pushing me out, Auckland were making room for Bhupinder Singh, then they got Tarun Nethula in, who is about as old [31] as I am, so it's a funny one.

"I'm a bit gutted. It came as a surprise. But it's professional sport. It comes and goes, so I can't really complain."

Martin then added that injuries probably hadn't helped his cause, but that he thought his rehab for a knee injury had been going well. Obviously the team bosses though otherwise, he said.

"I played a bit injured last season in the four-dayers and wasn't as good as I should have been. I probably paid for that in the end, so it is what it is," he added.

"My rehab [tendonitis in the knee] was going real well. But the management told me 'we don't think your rehab is going very well so we aren't going to contract you'.

"They got me in a meeting. We talked about my goals and they said 'we aren't going to contract you', so it was unexpected."

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