Ex-England star, 58, takes up completely new sport and wins promotion with fellow Three Lions ace convinced to play too

AFTER sharing the pitch with David Beckham and earning 23 caps for England, a former Three Lions player is shining in a new sport.

Former England goalkeeper Nigel Martyn is now a local cricket star, winning promotion to the Yorkshire Premier League North last year.

Billed as a more-than-handy wicketkeeper, Martyn took up cricket alongside fellow former England stopper Paul Robinson at Knaresborough Club, in North Yorkshire.

Despite Robinson replacing Martyn as Leed United’s No.1 in 2002, the pair are the best of pals and returned to a different kind of pitch 20 years later.

Martyn, 58, told the England and Wales Cricket Board: “I saw him (Robinson) somewhere, and he asked what I was doing.

“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.

“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.”

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Martyn came through the Football League with Bristol Rovers, before becoming the first £1million goalkeeper in British football when he signed for Crystal Palace in 1989.

He start both games in iconic 1990 FA Cup final, when Palace forced a replay after holding Sir Alex Ferguson’s Man Utd to 3-3 draw at Old Wembley.

United would go on to win the replay 1-0 thanks to Lee Martin’s goal from left-back.

Martyn then moved to Leeds and enjoyed their most successful spell in recent memory, before moving to Everton until retirement in 2006.

And he was voted as part of Leeds United’s greatest team in 2006 and made the semi-final of the Champions League in the 2000-2001 season.

Seven years ago, Martyn played football with the current England cricket team.

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 previously told the BBC: “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.

‘It started at school.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.”

He has previously spoken of his hope that more players from Cornwall would go onto play for England.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk