Picked Over 250 International Wickets, THIS Former Cricketer Runs A Grocery Store Today

Chris Martin, former New Zealand cricketer, runs a grocery store in New Zealand for almost 10 years now. He picked up a total of 261 wickets for Black Caps across all formats.

Chris Martin used to love bowling to MS Dhoni. (Source: Twitter)

It is very rare that a cricketer, after retiring from the game, changes his or her profession to something which is to do nothing with the sport. Over the years, one of the most promising jobs for former cricketers have been the commentary duties or coaching roles. In India, majority of them turn out to be commentators or coaches (domestic, national levels). Some also opt to send rest of their lives doing other businesses but they also keep coming back to cricket in different capacities. For example, Kapil Dev has an well-established business but you can also see him in TV studios and commentary box as expert. Almost all the former Indian cricketers follow this trend after retirement. Same goes for cricketers in Pakistan, who launch their YouTube channels to provide insights of happenings in world cricket.

But outside the Indian subcontinent, where cricketers are not demi-gods, you can see Ex-cricketers taking up jobs that not many would expect them to take up in India. Not to forget, at one time, the senior men's Ireland team were made up dentists, white-collar employees. Even today, the players who form the teams of Associate Nations are all working in another job, unlike here in India. 

He took 233 Test wickets for New Zealand - the third highest of all-time for the Blackcaps, but only scored 123 runs in 71 matches!

Happy Birthday to Chris Martin! pic.twitter.com/WAzVuktrNO — ICC (@ICC) December 10, 2017

One such cricketer who took up a completely different profession post retirement was Chris Martin. The IPL-watching generation may not know a lot about Martin, who played 71 Tests for New Zealand from 2000 to 2013. He picked up 233 Test wickets and at one time, was the third-wicket wicket take for Black Caps in the longest format of the game, only behind the greats Richard Hadlee and Daniel Vaettori. Not to forget, Martin used to trouble former India captain MS Dhoni with his line and length had got him out on many occasions.

Martin went on to play till 40. But when he crossed the age of 35, he started to think about his future post-retirement. After stumbling upon many options, he finally settled for opening a supermarket in EastBourne in New Zealand. It is called the The Four Square, which is a community grocery store franchise of New Zealand retail chain Foodstuffs. There were days when Martin used to plan wickets with his captain, today, he plans which item in the store should be kept in what shelf. 

Martin, who started this business right after retirement, ran a mini store at a different place in New Zealand. But at the start of 2019, moved to this bigger store and is quite a happy man. He says when he ran the mini store, his fans would show up to buy things. But the businessman in him that the long-time customer base would be built only by delivering the good.

"You need to create that feeling that it is Chris's Store and he's there and he's going to help you out. You are going to see him on the counter and see him stacking products. Initially, when I did finish my cricket and started in Palmy, I had a lot of people coming in to just see me. And that isn't really going to make a business fly. If they are going to be customers in the long-term then it's not going to be me impressing them but the store," Martin had told Cricbuzz in an interview.

Martin had a good international career but he had not planned to become a cricketer initially. He was an Arts student who wanted to chill all through the life and think not much about cricket and other professions. But soon things changed when Martin decided he could not make his talent go to waste.