Martyn Bain whose famed left arm fast bowling first hit the headlines in the early 1960’s collapsed and died on 8th July 2007, still playing the game, on a cricket ground near Bordeaux at the age of 62. He left these shores for France at the turn of the century and there he was encouraging the locals to play cricket, skilfully. One adds skilfully because he always sought perfection.

Kenley was the scene of his early triumphs and his successes there in tandem with his great friend Roger Ward saw him selected by Surrey for their then renowned 2nd XI Well known names like Graham Roope, Geoff Arnold, Mike Selvey and Pat Pocock were his dressing room colleagues in those days. No mean line up nor was he fazed.

Martyn continued to play top class club cricket through till the 1990’s regularly claiming headlines with his wicket-taking feats. He moved on from Kenley as his horizons grew to Addiscombe and he saw out his career at the Sandilands club. His longevity at the top was a testament to the way he utilised his skill and cricketing brain to adapt after he lost the thrust of youth. Firstly by turning from pace to left arm seamers and then, when he cut his run down subsequently, he mixed up cutters with orthodox slow left arm spinners. A fascinatingly successful cocktail but always very mean in line and length. Martyn also played for the Paralytics, a notable local wandering side, the Slouch Hats and the Surrey Championship Representative XI.

His record whilst at Addiscombe in the Surrey Championship of capturing over 500 wickets was a deserving reward for his versatility allayed to his abilities and combativeness. He captained countless sides with his legendary very dour “thou shalt not lose philosophy” and then of course there was his batting. Sometimes Boycottesque, sometimes out came the explosive straight hitting notably when Addiscombe took on Maidenhead & Bray of Michael Parkinson fame in a Cricketer Cup quarter-final. His knock changed the face of the game in a trice, a memorable cameo.

Martyn Bain had style. Really he was ahead of his time as no one enjoyed the “gentle” sledging of the sixties and seventies more than he did. It was an affront to him for teams to be amicable on the field, but, off the field his sociability was up there with the best. It was highly amusing that he took his loving wife Sue to Yorkshire for the birth of their first child; so that “he” could play for Yorkshire and England. But, their first child was a daughter !