Donnelly, Martin

Martin Paterson Donnelly would become one of New Zealand’s greatest cricket players, play two sports at international level, and have a successful working career.

‘Squib’ Donnelly, the son of Louis and Jane (nee Cameron), was born in Ngāruawāhia on 17 October 1917. A short while later the family settled in Eltham, and that’s where Martin grew up and went to school.

He was a promising young cricketer from an early age, fortunate to be coached by two teachers who were good cricketers. In Eltham it was an Englishman named George Percy. When he went to the New Plymouth Boys’ High School, his coach was an Australian, Chris Bottrill.

Martin was a good scholar. His early ambitions were to go to university, then become a teacher at the Boys’ High School. In 1936 he was the school’s Head Boy.

A talented sportsman, at the Boy’s High School he excelled at track athletics, and was the school’s tennis champion. He played half-back for the first XV. He also played for the school first XI. Early in his career, he was involved in an infamous incident at the school ground.

In a game in February 1934, he was batting well, scoring freely, when an opposition player, who had chased the ball around the field a lot, suddenly collapsed. Taken into the school hall, he died before help arrived. The umpire that day was a larger-than-life character named Joe Brown. As everyone gathered around, stunned and unsure what to do, Brown pointed his finger at Martin Donnelly and said in a loud voice, “He’s dead and you killed him.”

Scoring a lot of runs in both the senior club competition and inter-school games, Martin was selected for Taranaki while still at school. Tom Larkin played a lot of cricket with him during this time.

Martin was “a great theoriser” about the opposition, Tom recalled in 2016. Sometimes he would worry about the bowlers to the point where he would “fret himself out.” However, Martin’s ability still shone through.

He soon caught the eye of the Wellington, then the New Zealand, selectors. New Zealand was due to tour England in mid-1937, and the selectors were looking to introduce a younger player with potential. Several good performances for Wellington by Martin, at the right time, saw him picked in the New Zealand team.

Taranaki people were very proud of his achievement. In the weeks before he left, money was raised and there were numerous farewells held for him.

Martin had joined the New Plymouth Old Boys’ cricket club, and he would draw crowds to club cricket whenever he played. However, his appearances would prove to be limited after he went to Canterbury University, then when World War Two intervened.

He signed up for service in January 1941, attending the military camp at Burnham. In Europe he commanded a tank squadron near Trieste, Italy. Later in the war, he held the rank of major and worked in England to help repatriate war prisoners.

Afterwards, Martin returned to England again, this time to study history at Oxford University. It wasn’t the end of his sporting career, however.

He played first five-eighth for the university’s rugby team. In 1947 he was selected, out-of-position, at centre, for the England team’s ‘Five Nations’ game against Ireland. Tom Larkin, who had also played a lot of rugby with Martin at school, recalled Martin’s England selection in 2016.

“Martin wasn’t an instinctive rugby player,” said Tom. “By the end of his career, he had done well to get as far as he did.”

During the 1940s, Martin was also playing first-class cricket, for Warwickshire. In 1948 he was named as one of Wisden Almanack’s five cricketers of the year. In 1949, he was selected in the New Zealand team that toured England. It was in the Lord’s test match that he scored 206, then the highest test score by a New Zealand player. By then, Martin was widely regarded as the finest left-handed batsman in the world.

Leaving university, he worked for Courtaulds, an international textile and chemicals company. In 1950, after his marriage to Elizabeth James, he was promoted to be the company’s Australian sales manager. The couple moved to Sydney, had four children, and lived there for the rest of their lives.

Martin was one of Taranaki’s greatest sportsmen, but, because he lived overseas after the war years, and only infrequently visited Taranaki, there’s very little acknowledgement in the province, today, of his name or achievements. This is at odds with how his contemporaries viewed him. A look through New Plymouth’s newspapers of the 1930s and 1940s gives an indication of the hero status he had.

There is, however, a recognition of him at the New Plymouth Boys’ High School. Donnelly House, one of the school’s four student houses, is named after him.

Martin Donnelly died in Sydney on 22 October 1999. Elizabeth died the following year. They left behind three dogs and a Burmese cat. The cat was named Taranaki.

Documents

Taranaki Daily News 4 March 1937 Fine Young Athlete

Taranaki Daily News 18 March 1937 Martin Donnelly

 Taranaki Daily News 18 March 1937 Donnelly Honoured

Books

The Honours Board by Brian Beer (2015), pages 124, 131, 138-139 & 211

Taranaki Cricket: The Hawke Cup Years volume one the 1920s & 1930s by Brian Beer (2022), pages 64, 68, 94 et al.

Martin Donnelly: New Zealand Cricket's Master Craftsman by Rod Nye (1999)