{"id":300329,"date":"2025-07-29T04:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T04:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/300329\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T04:57:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T04:57:12","slug":"will-sean-longstaff-keep-playing-cricket-after-joining-leeds-he-already-has-one-offer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/300329\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Sean Longstaff keep playing cricket after joining Leeds? He already has one offer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sean Longstaff\u2019s unveiling as Leeds United\u2019s latest summer signing was not your typical affair.<\/p>\n

Sure, there were plenty of big smiles to go with the obligatory now-available-in-the-shops kit, in this case the electric blue number that Daniel Farke\u2019s side will sport on the road in the Premier League.<\/p>\n

But, where most new arrivals are handed a club scarf or even a football to hold aloft, the 27-year-old was instead clutching the symbol of a very different sport. Namely, a shiny red cricket ball.<\/p>\n

The unusual prop was a nod to Longstaff\u2019s other big sporting passion, as seen by the wider world on social media in the last couple of summers with footage of him bowling for Tynemouth Cricket Club.<\/p>\n

As the former Newcastle United midfielder explained to The Athletic just last weekend<\/a>, he uses cricket as a close-season escape from the pressures of professional football, having first played for the north east club at the age of 11.<\/p>\n

Nigel Martyn, an Elland Road legend who today plays club cricket for Knaresborough in the ECB Yorkshire Premier League North, has seen the online clip of Longstaff bowling.<\/p>\n

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Unreal!<\/p>\n

Newcastle player Sean Longstaff taking a wicket today for Tynemouth CC \u261d\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/CJXVitcydn<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Cricket Shouts \ud83c\udfcf (@crickshouts) July 5, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cSean has got a good bowling action,\u201d says the former England goalkeeper. \u201cGets through OK. Now he\u2019s signed for Leeds, there\u2019ll be a host of clubs who would welcome him with open arms, I\u2019m sure. He\u2019s more than welcome to come and play for Knaresborough.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Martyn playing football at England cricket practice with Joe Root in 2017 (Gareth Copley\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Longstaff\u2019s north-east roots running so deep mean any potential suitors for the 2026 cricket season are likely to be left disappointed. Pals at Tynemouth, while happy to see his football future sorted via that \u00a312million move to West Yorkshire, have made it clear where his loyalties lay.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were reminding me I\u2019ve left Newcastle,\u201d said Longstaff in last weekend\u2019s interview, \u201cbut I\u2019ve not left Tynemouth Cricket Club.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longstaff\u2019s most recent appearance for Tynemouth came in the July 5 victory over Felling. He scored 17 runs and took one wicket in what was his fourth appearance of the season for the club\u2019s first XI.<\/p>\n

Whether he will be allowed to continue now that he is a Leeds player remains to be seen. During his seven years at Elland Road after being signed by Howard Wilkinson in the summer of 1996, Martyn\u2019s contract meant cricket was out of bounds for fear he might get injured.<\/p>\n

It was the same at all his clubs, with Gerry Francis, the manager of Bristol Rovers who gave the Cornishman his Football League chance in 1987, even forbidding his players from going on a jet ski when abroad during the summer.<\/p>\n

\n

1st XI v 1st XI
1st XI 36\/3 (10), 285 reqd off 40 ov
9.3: Giddings to Scott, OUT
Tom Scott c Nigel Martyn b Toby Giddings 0 (2)https:\/\/t.co\/SITg9fGuey<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/7SLPrRy72n<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Knaresborough CC (@KnaresboroughCC) June 18, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As much as he loves cricket, Martyn was never tempted to try to squeeze in an appearance given how important his hands were to his career. Considering his managers at Leeds included disciplinarians such as Wilkinson and George Graham, this was probably for the best.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it would have gone down well to turn up and tell them I had a broken finger or whatever,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019d have had to say it happened when doing something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cricket and football used to be natural bedfellows, even at the top level. Denis Compton played 78 Test matches for England but lifted the FA Cup with Arsenal in 1950, while Ian Botham, one of the all-time great cricketers, kept fit during the winter months by playing for Scunthorpe United in the old Fourth Division.<\/p>\n

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Botham, then England cricket captain, before playing professional football for Scunthorpe (Allsport\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

In Longstaff\u2019s newly adopted county, plenty enjoyed a dual career, with former Sheffield United full-back Ted Hemsley spending 17 years as a professional footballer and 21 years with Worcestershire County Cricket Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Things started to change, however, when the respective seasons started to overlap in the early 1990s. Many had to choose, with Gary and Phil Neville both calling time on promising cricket careers to concentrate on trying to make it at Manchester United, just as James Milner did at Leeds before becoming the Premier League\u2019s second-youngest player for a time after making his debut aged just 16 years and 309 days.<\/p>\n

Managers taking a dim view of their players risking injury made playing even club cricket difficult. Some chose to don the cricket whites anyway, including Huddersfield Town striker Andy Booth, not long after breaking into the team as a teenager under Neil Warnock in the mid-1990s.<\/p>\n

He hit 165 not out one Sunday in August for Hall Bower in the Huddersfield League, only to then turn up the following day at Town unable to train due to a bad back. Both Warnock and the club physio were puzzled by the injury.<\/p>\n

That was until Warnock, by chance, attended a cricket dinner a couple of days later and a Hall Bower official inadvertently let slip about Booth\u2019s epic innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was fuming inside,\u201d wrote Warnock in his 2007 autobiography Made In Sheffield. \u201cYou\u2019ll have a different kind of f***ing knock tomorrow, Boothy, I thought to myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo wonder he had a bloody bad back. He\u2019d been out at the crease for about four hours. I gave him a right going over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martyn\u2019s return to club cricket did not come until after he had retired. He joined Leeds Modernians in 2010, overcoming fears that the ankle injury that brought the curtain down on his football career may hinder a return to the crease.<\/p>\n

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Martyn made more than 200 appearances for Leeds from 1996 to 2003 (Neal Simpson\/EMPICS via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

A move to Knaresborough followed for the goalkeeper turned wicketkeeper, who was part of the team that won promotion last year to the Yorkshire Premier.<\/p>\n

This time around, he is also turning out for Cornwall Over-50s, who last Sunday beat their Sussex counterparts to set up a National Cup quarter-final clash with Lancashire.<\/p>\n

As Longstaff found when footage of his wicket against Felling went viral, little remains under wraps in the modern sporting era. Martyn\u2019s cricket exploits may not have been quite as high-profile as the new Leeds signing, but he\u2019s been on the scene for so many years now that few heads are turned by his presence in the opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s probably only been one time when it\u2019s been different,\u201d he says. \u201cWe were playing Dringhouses away. They had a few Leeds United fans in their team, so were all asking for a few photos before the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that\u2019s the only real time when the opposition have taken a second look. Most know by now because I\u2019ve been on the scene a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Athletic hopes this recognition extends to no one sledging the one-time footballer with 23 England caps to his name and over 660 Football League appearances?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a little bit, the usual cricket stuff,\u201d Martyn says. \u201cThe thing is, I\u2019m someone who likes to chat back. I like to have a laugh with people, rather than keep quiet.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone might say as I\u2019m batting, \u2018He was all right with a football, but he can\u2019t hit a cricket ball\u2019. So, I\u2019ll just hit straight back by replying, \u2018Well, you haven\u2019t got me out, so what does that say about you?\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all done with a smile on your face. Because that\u2019s what club cricket should be about. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I take my cricket seriously and am very competitive. But I do find you play any sport better if you\u2019re in a good mood. It means you\u2019re in a good place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Promotion to the Premier League under Farke means Martyn\u2019s old club are in a good place right now. Before The Athletic bids farewell to someone once voted Leeds\u2019 all-time best goalkeeper in a supporters\u2019 poll, talk switches to the winter sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an important season,\u201d says the 58-year-old. \u201cTrying to get your feet under the table, that\u2019s what it is all about when you go up. So many clubs yo-yo these days, but it can be done.<\/p>\n

\u201cStaying up has to be the aim this season, make sure you\u2019re there for next season. It\u2019s down to the manager to pick the right team and the lads to put the performances in. There\u2019s more quality in the group, so now you need to go out and compete as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0(Photo: Mark Leech\/Offside\/Offside via Getty Images)<\/p>\n