Former England star, 58, takes up new sport, earning promotion to the Yorkshire Premier Division – and says he prefers playing it to football!

A former England goalkeeper has taken up a new sport and is now a cricket star – in his local village.

58-year-old Nigel Martyn enjoyed a successful playing career for the likes of Crystal Palace, Leeds United and Everton, playing over 600 times in his senior career as a goalkeeper.

Between 1992 and 2002, he was capped 23 times by his country, playing alongside the likes of David Beckham and Alan Shearer, having also played for the England Under-21 side and former B team.

A midfielder until he was 17, he only became a goalkeeper when asked to play for his brother’s team, and flourished playing for St Blazey and Bristol Rovers before earning a £1million move to Place.

There his career kicked on until his retirement in 2006, but he is now enjoying life in his whites having previously trained with the England cricket team.

Now, he has been starring for Knaresborough Cricket Club in Yorkshire, last year winning promotion to the Yorkshire Premier League north.

Martyn was capped 23 times by England, playing alongside the likes of David Beckham

Now, he stars for Knaresborough Cricket Club in Yorkshire, earning promotion to the Premier Division last year

Billed as a more-than-handy wicketkeeper, Martyn, as of 2022, was playing for the club alongside fellow former England stopper and Leeds team-mate Paul Robinson.

‘I saw him somewhere, and he asked what I was doing,’ he told the ECB. ‘I told him I was playing cricket at Knaresborough, which is where he lives. His lad, Jack, is actually in the Yorkshire setup – probably around under-12s or 13s,’ Martyn said of Robinson.

‘I said, “Look, you get the camaraderie we had in football dressing rooms, it’s good exercise, come and play a bit yourself.” But he has a lot of football engagements, like punditry in the middle east.

‘He’s not available much, but when he is we like to get him in. We actually played a game at Dringhouses away about two seasons ago. It was the first game we played together, and there were some Leeds fans in their team. They couldn’t believe it.’

Seven years ago, Martyn played football with the England cricket team and has previously spoken of his hope that more players from Cornwall would go onto play for England.

In 2017, he was invited to join the team in their warm-up ahead of a Test against the West Indies by Jonny Bairstow. He was on holiday with his family in Cornwall at the time, but travelled back to take part.

‘It started at school,’ he previously told BBC of his cricket journey. ‘It was rugby in the winter, then football and cricket. I really enjoyed playing, at 14 joined my local club and went from there.

‘You get into that changing room as a 14 year old and row up pretty quickly. There was a lot of fun to be had and we loved the competition of it.

As of 2022, he was playing alongside fellow former England stopper Paul Robinson

‘I always preferred cricket, but I was slightly better at football. But I had to play outfield – though I was allowed to keep wicket for the school cricket team.

‘Once I turned professional the cricket had to stop. I couldn’t risk breaking a finger. I would get into a bit of trouble if I did that.’