Born in Nottingham on 25 July 1845, George Need Martin played in the Colts’ matches of 1866 and 67 as wicket keeper and got favourable reports though was once said to have “too much hit” when batting.
His debut for Nottinghamshire came in August 1867 in a match v XX of Bradford, not a First-Class fixture. He played again v Yorkshire in June 1870, keeping in the absence of Wild, who was unwell, and Biddulph, who was on duty with MCC; he scored 1 and 14 but made no catches or stumpings. His second First-Class game was in 1874, also versus Yorkshire, when he represented the All England Eleven but played as a batsman only, Tom Plumb taking the keeper’s spot. Martin got a pair in this game so his First-Class record was a rather dismal 15 runs at 3.75 with all but one of those runs in the second innings of the 1870 game.
Martin played for the XVI of Notts v an England XI, for Colts of the North v Colts of the South, for Nottinghamshire v Derbyshire XVI, in which he made his best recorded score of 23, and was selected for the Next XV v Nottinghamshire in a one-day game that could not be completed because of the weather.
He was a regular member of the Nottingham Commercial Club around 1866 and played most of his cricket as an amateur, though he was engaged by Mr Walker of Eastwood Hall in 1872, where the 1870 game against England had been staged.
George Need Martin worked as a timber merchant and was educated at the Barradales School in Nottingham; he died in his home town on 2 September 1900.
July 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 126