Former Everton goalkeeper Nigel Martyn is gearing up to become a dual England international in both football and cricket
Former Everton goalkeeper Nigel Martyn attended trials at Loughborough University to earn his chance for England's Over-60s side
Former Everton goalkeeper Nigel Martyn attended trials at Loughborough University to earn his chance for England's Over-60s side
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One of David Moyes’ former Everton signings is hoping to become an England international – in both football and cricket – some 68 years after Arthur Milton became the last of just a dozen men to achieve such a feat.
Two of those dual internationals played in the same Everton team – Middlesbrough-born wing-half Harry Makepeace (four caps, four Test matches) and Hereford-born right winger Jack Sharp (two caps, three Test matches) – were both part of the Blues’ first FA Cup-winning side in 1906.
While Nigel Martyn won’t be able to quite emulate their feats, he’s now on the verge of landmark international call-up.
Some 37 years on from becoming English football’s first £1million goalkeeper when he moved from Bristol Rovers to Crystal Palace, Martyn, who was capped 23 times for England in football, has forced his way into the reckoning for the England Over-60s cricket team having returned to the sport having retired from Premier League action with Everton a couple of decades ago.
The St Austell-born star made 846 appearances at club level as a professional footballer but turning out in club cricket for Scarcroft near Leeds, his dedication of making an 800-mile round trip from his Yorkshire home to play county age-group matches for his native Cornwall is bearing fruit.
Martyn told BBC Sport: “It’s pretty special. Obviously as a professional goalkeeper I wasn’t allowed to play cricket in the summer, as it would threaten breaking fingers and things like that.
“I retired with a stress fracture on my ankle, so I didn’t think I was able to play cricket. But I got the all-clear to do it in about 2011, so I started playing again.
“My good friend Sean Hooper, who was the captain of Cornwall Over-50s, spoke to me about six years ago asking if fancied playing for them. We last played when we were together with Cornwall Schools Under-15s but from there, Cornwall recommended me to England.
“It’s a long trip but being able to go home and see family more often was always the added bonus with it as well.”
Predictably, Martyn is a wicketkeeper, and he cites Alan Knott and Bob Taylor as a couple of men behind the stumps he most admired, but he proved his mettle when attending recent national team trials at Loughborough University.
The man who Joe Royle originally wanted to bring to Goodison Park in 1996 but slipped through Everton’s fingers when the manager was unable to speak to him personally – joining Leeds United instead – eventually joining the Blues some seven years later, said: “The batting and bowling standard is really, really high.
“The fielding is the one area where it gets more difficult, but there’s still blokes in their 60s diving around stopping the ball, sprinting after it and throwing it in, it’s quite incredible to watch really. I just love playing.
“If you’re going to play into your 60s and 70s, you’ve got to love it. I love the camaraderie that you get.
“Because I wanted to be a goalkeeper, I also wanted to be a wicketkeeper. There’s some transferable skills of hand-eye co-ordination and I’m sort of used to a round object being either thrown or kicked at me.
“I’ve had several thousand of those things happening to me in my life. So, I can seem to get my hands pretty much in the right place most of the time.”
After finishing his football career at Everton, playing 100 times for David Moyes, Nigel Martyn has gone back to playing cricket
After finishing his football career at Everton, playing 100 times for David Moyes, Nigel Martyn has gone back to playing cricket
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Unfortunately, for 59-year-old Martyn, who was part of England’s World Cup squad for two tournaments in 1998 and 2002 – a non-playing understudy for David Seaman on both occasions – he is ineligible to play in the Over-60s Cricket World Cup this summer because the tournament starts on August 9, just two days before his 60th birthday!
He’s still hoping to be part of the team in the future though. Martyn said: “That would be great.
“I trained with the two wicketkeepers picked for the World Cup and they are both excellent, so the competition does drive you on to push the people ahead of you. They’ve got the spots at the moment, and I’ll just keep doing my thing.”