Martin made his first-class debut in the Currie Cup for Natal against Eastern Province in March 1926, taking two second-innings wickets including that of Arthur Ochse.
He appeared quite regularly for MCC in 1929 and 1930; his best bowling return for them was the 7/43 he claimed in the first innings against the Royal Navy at Chatham in July 1929,[6] while his highest score was the 97 he made against the Army in August 1930.
He just failed to score his thousand first-class runs for the season in 1932, but reached the landmark every year from 1933 to 1939, while in both 1937 and 1939 he achieved the double.
[11] As a bowler, he three times took eight wickets in an innings, the best of these returns (and the best of his career) being the 8/24 he claimed against Sussex in August 1939, with match figures of 13/88.
[16] Although he never acted as an umpire in a first-class match, he did stand (with Paul Gibb) in Worcestershire's centenary single-innings game against MCC in 1965.