You can't keep a good man down
Damien Martyn hardly ever looks ruffled. Not when arching his back leg to dissect two gullies or when sipping a freshly ordered coffee. Not even when answering his thousandth question about the 1993-94 SCG Test
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He's on a half-century roll with 52, 17, 78 and 73 not out in his past four matches. In 25 one-day games against England he averages 65.21, his best return against anyone but Zimbabwe, who have seen his mean reach 118.00 in 15 fixtures.
"The selectors made their choice and I've been lucky enough to get another chance. I want to go out there now and hopefully show everyone that this is what I do at No. 4 when I'm batting well."
"It was a shame I couldn't be there at the end [against England] but it was good to get some runs. It was good all round, we've been waiting for this game for a long time, since we left England last year. We enjoyed the moment because we've had a lot of bad moments."
"In my eyes he hasn't been under any pressure whatsoever, I see him as a vital player in our team. Coming in at No. 4 is a difficult position to bat, you need to be a certain sort of player to fit in there and we all saw how good a player Damien is, and how he can win you games." Ricky Ponting during the Champions Trophy
There could be a Champions Trophy finals appearance, but England's five-Test visit will define the closing chapters of about half of the current team. "I'd love to be part of the Ashes win," Martyn says in Inside Cricket, "just being there in Sydney for the fifth Test and being able to say 'we won it back'."
Peter English is the Australasian editor of Cricinfo