[4] By 1882 Martin's ability started to be noticed and a relative, Arthur Blackman,[A] recommended him to Herbert Knatchbull-Hugessen, a member of the Kent County Cricket Club committee.

He played in three trial matches for Kent Colts in May 1882 but did not progress to the county side until he joined St Lawrence Cricket Club at Canterbury in 1884.

[2] Martin played regularly after 1886[8] and, although he was considered "disappointing"[4] in 1887 in a year in which Kent were poor,[7] he established himself as a "top-class" bowler, taking 60 wickets for the county in 1888, the season he was first paired with Walter Wright.

[B][2][4][13] He played his only home Test match for England in 1890 and was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in the 1892 edition of the almanack.

[8][11] After 1891 Martin's performances are generally considered to have declined, with the spin or movement he achieved with the ball thought to have reduced significantly.

[18] As well as making 229 appearances for Kent, Martin played in 57 first-class matches for MCC and was a member of the ground staff at Lord's until 1908.

He played at a time when England had a number of left-arm spin options, with Lancashire's Johnny Briggs and Yorkshire's Bobby Peel the first-choice bowlers for the national team.

Martin's debut came in the second Test against Australia at The Oval in 1890 with Briggs injured and Yorkshire refusing to allow Peel to play.

[19][20] He was described by Wisden as having bowled "wonderfully well" in a "splendid performance"[20] whilst The Times reported that "one of the chief features of the match was the success of Martin".

In his Cricketer of the Year citation Wisden wrote that "when the ground helps him he breaks back in a way that baffles the strongest batsmen"[8] and it is possible that he bowled cutters as well as more orthodox finger spin.

Carlaw suggest that he may have been a bowler similar to Derek Underwood who played for Kent in the 20th century and spun the ball at a medium pace.

This places him ninth on the list of Kent's all-time wicket-takers, with only Colin Blythe and Tich Freeman taking more wickets at a lower bowling average.

His Wisden obituary says that he "was never much of a batsman",[3] although he was a "prolific scorer in club cricket", a feature of his play that does not seem to have been taken seriously at county level.

In a team photograph from 1898 he wears "a broad brimmed hat, carries a smart cane and looks the personification of a Parisian boulevardier".