ST AUSTELL’S former Premier League goalkeeper Nigel Martyn will achieve the rare feat of representing his country in two sports having been selected for the England Over 60s Lions team for Friday’s clash with Scotland at Seaton Carew CC near Hartlepool (11am).

The 59-year-old was number one at Leeds United when the Whites reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2000/01 season - and was also part of two World Cup squads in both 1998 and 2002, making 23 appearances for the Three Lions.

Since retiring back in 2006, Martyn eventually rekindled one of his first loves – cricket.

Martyn’s lightning reflexes and catching ability are being utilised as a wicketkeeper and has impressed so much that he will become the first man since Arthur Milton in 1958 to represent England at cricket and football.

He now plays for Scarcroft near Leeds, and is also a regular for Cornwall Over 50s’ first team under his school-mate Sean Hooper.

His performances for the Duchy earned him trials at Loughborough University earlier this year, where he impressed the selectors.

Reflecting on the news, Martyn, who started his cricketing journey at Fowey as a youngster, said: "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 again. But I got the all-clear to do it in about 2011 so I started playing again."

Martyn got his professional football break for Bristol Rovers in 1987 after being recommended to then manager Gerry Francis by the club's tea lady Vi Harris.

The Cornishman later played for Crystal Palace, Leeds and Everton, making 666 league appearances before he retired in 2006.St Austell-born Martyn's road to the international fold came off the back of county age-group matches for Cornwall – which necessitate an 800-mile round trip for matches from his Yorkshire home.

“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 Cornwall,” he said. “We last played when we were together with Cornwall Schools Under 15s. 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.”

Martyn continues to keep going as long as he can.

“The batting and bowling standard is really, really high,” Martyn said. “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.”

Martyn cited England wicketkeepers Alan Knott and Bob Taylor as men behind the stumps he most admired.

“Because I wanted to be a goalkeeper, I also wanted to be a wicketkeeper,” he said. “There’s some transferable skills of hand-eye coordination 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.”

Not turning 60 until August means Martyn wasn’t eligible for this year’s Over 60s World Cup in Canada, but admits it’s a future goal.

He concluded: “That would be great. I trained with the two wicketkeepers picked for the World Cup and they are both excellent, so the competition [for places] 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.”