Cricket Coach Martin Speight
Cricket Coach Martin Speight, Sckill 4 Sport Director
Wicketkeeper / Batsman Martin Speight was an unorthodox cricketer. As a batsman he was an “eye” cricketer who liked to improvise and was well known for flashes of brilliance and rushes of blood in equal measure!
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Perhaps best known for his half century in the 1993 Nat West final between Sussex and Warwickshire, Martin was considered more of a one-day player then first Class cricketer.
Born in the West Midlands on 24th October 1967, his family moved to Sussex, where he was offered a Sports Scholarship to Hurstpierpoint College. He first represented Sussex at Under 11 level and having progressed through County age group cricket made his First Class debut in 1986 against Somerset. In 1987 he toured Sri Lanka with the England Young Cricketers side managed by Tim Lamb and captained by Michael Atherton.
Three years at Durham University, alongside players like Nasser Hussain, Alan Fordham and John Stephenson also saw Martin play for the Combined Universities team including the 1989 team that made history as the only non – First Class side to progress to the quarter finals of the Benson and Hedges Cup only to lose to Somerset by 3 runs!
In the early years at Sussex Martin did not keep wicket but his dynamic batting cemented his place in the side. By the time he left Sussex in 1996 Martin averaged over 36, including 13 First Class and 3 one – day hundreds. His move to Durham enabled him to keep wicket full time, but the unreliable pitches at the Riverside hampered his batting.
By the time his First Class career finished in 2001, Martin had played nearly 200 matches and scored over 9,000 runs. Add to this nearly 300 dismissals and 5,000 one – day runs and one might say that he had a reasonable career. However in hindsight a severe bout of ME in 1995 seemed to have been the start of the end for Martin, who himself admits that he never really fulfilled his potential.
Martin is now settled in County Durham with his partner Deborah and their two year old son Benjamin. He continues to play cricket for South Northumberland CC in the North East Premier League, runs his sports coaching business with Paul Carrick and Neil Killeen, and continues to paint.
His most recent paintings have included “The First Ball of The Test Match at the Riverside”, “The Stadium of Light” from the air currently hanging at the Stadium and Hartlepool United F.C. He has also written articles for Cricnet and commentated for BBC Radio Newcastle on Durham’s 2004 Twenty 20 matches.
Martin’s coaching takes him to a variety of places in the North East from Northumberland to Cleveland. He runs the Middlesbrough College Cricket Academy and regularly coaches at the Royal Grammer School, Barnard Castle School and Mowden Hall School. Heavily involved at South Northumberland CC, he has also coached at Philadelphia CC, Consett CC, Shotley Bridge CC and Blythe CC as well as Durham University Women’s CC and for Durham Women.
In addition Martin runs a Long Term Athletes Development programme on Monday evenings at the Riverside in conjunction with Colin Sanctuary and Graeme Weeks at Durham CCC, as well as co-ordinating summer coaching courses for both Derwentside and Gateshead Councils.
