'I returned to play cricket after 10 years - and then I scored a century'

Marten Gadd has been unable to walk since spending three hours in the crease knocking off the ton for Thackley Cricket Club on Saturday. He's only made three appearances since quitting the sport in 2014 and only when they were desperately short on numbers.

When he got the call at the weekend, he was determined to hit only the third century in his career. Sadly his efforts weren’t enough to seal victory for Thackley as they fell short against Saltaire, losing 269 runs to 234.

Semi-retired gardener Marten, of Bradford, said: "I think I'll play occasionally as I've been unable to walk for two days. I was meant to play golf this morning but I can hardly walk so I've had to cancel it. The aches and pains are surprising but I was out there for three hours and it's hard work for a 62-year-old.

"I've had 100 before twice - the first time was on my son Thomas' first birthday in 1994 and the other was around ten years later in 2004. So I had a ten year gap and now a 20 year gap between them.

"After I retired and just played a couple of games for them, I didn't really get the chance to bat so thought this could be my last chance ever. I was rather concentrating. I wish I had done that for the rest of my career and I might have got a few more. I was thinking 'it's not going to happen again, so lets do it."

Marten started playing at Thackley Cricket Club in 1976 and played consistently until 2014, when he retired due to work commitments.

He added: "I was self-employed and I realised I was thinking too much about my work when I was fielding. I also got injured once, I broke my thumb quite badly so I thought I would be better concentrating on earning some money.

"I think I've played three games in ten years, when they were short. One of my friends asked me to come out of retirement and play on Saturday, because they only had ten men so I agreed instead of going to football."