‘As good as any feeling I had in football’: Nigel Martyn on swapping goalkeeping for a red England cricket cap

The former England keeper has the chance to represent his country once again after flourishing as a senior cricketer

“I once hit a six in very murky conditions to win a game which got us promoted.” Nigel Martyn is lost in a reverie. The former England, Leeds, Everton and Crystal Palace player was English football’s first £1m goalkeeper, chalked up 846 club appearances in a career that spanned three decades, went to two World Cups and played in an FA Cup final. But it is a smear over long-on in the Yorkshire gloaming that has him misty-eyed.

“Wow. I remember that feeling was … yeah. That was as good as any feeling that I had on a football field.”