Nigel Martyn eyes rare England dual-international status with cricket call-up

Nigel Martyn is on the brink of one of English sport’s rarest crossings, moving from 23 England football caps to an England Seniors cricket call-up at 59. If Martyn goes on to represent England in cricket, he will join a tiny group of dual internationals whose names include Denis Compton, C.B. Fry and Tip Foster.

The former Leeds United goalkeeper did not arrive in cricket by accident. Martyn played the game at school and in Cornwall age-group cricket before football took over his professional life, and after retirement he returned as a wicketkeeper. He has played club cricket for Scarcroft CC near Leeds and earlier for Knaresborough CC, where he shared the field with another former England goalkeeper, Paul Robinson.

Martyn’s route back into the game began about six years ago when Sean Hooper, the Cornwall Over-50s captain, asked whether he fancied playing for Cornwall. That led to long journeys from Martyn’s Yorkshire home to county age-group matches, including a round trip of about 800 miles. For a player whose first England career lasted from 1992 to 2002, the second act has demanded the sort of commitment and travel usually reserved for much younger sportsmen.

Martyn said the move was “pretty special” and explained that professional goalkeeping had kept him out of cricket through the summer because of the risk of broken fingers. He also believed a stress-fracture ankle injury might have ended any chance of playing again. Instead, he has found a late path back into the sport he loved as a youngster, with the wicketkeeping gloves offering a familiar bridge between his two careers.

The rarity of Martyn’s position gives the story its weight. Arthur Milton was the last man to play both football and cricket for England as full internationals, making the first of his six Test appearances in 1958, seven years after his lone England football cap against Austria. Martyn’s selection does not just revive an old sporting oddity; it brings one of English sport’s most improbable traditions back into view, with a former international goalkeeper now chasing national colours in a second game.