“Martin who?” you ask.
“Exactly”, I reply.
You see, Saggers was the perennial ‘nearly’ man of English cricket. A late developer – his career really didn’t take off until he was 30 – he found himself behind not only Caddick and Hoggard in the queue for the national fast medium bowling slot, but a host of others such as James Kirtley, Ed Giddins and even the even-older Martin Bicknell.
Saggers eventually got the chance to play for England when Andrew Flintoff was injured on the 2003 tour of Bangladesh. Called into a squad which also featured such luminaries as Rikki Clarke, Richard Johnson and Gareth Batty, he took 2-29 in his first bowl in international cricket. Sadly, these were to remain his best figures and his Test career ended after just two more games.
That said, Saggers packed two dramatic moments into those six innings. The first was a tremendous backflip to catch Alok Kapali and the second when, recalled to the side against New Zealand in 2004, he dismissed Mark Richardson with his first international ball on home soil.
Saggers was a stalwart of the county cricket circuit. His career began in 1996 with Durham, but really took off after a move to Kent. Injuries dogged him throughout his career, but he finished with 415 first class wickets at a very respectable average of 25. With the bat he was something of a walking wicket, as his Test average of 0.33 suggests, though he did manage two first class fifties.
