5 famous cricketers who also played professional football

It takes some special talent to represent one's
country in cricket, but to play football and cricket at
the highest level requires an extraordinary effort.
Only a select few have managed to play both sports
at the professional level simultaneously.

Here, we have a look at 5 famous cricketers who also
played professional football:

#5 Sir Vivian Richards
While not much is known about Sir Viv's footballing
career as he gave up the sport early on after
establishing himself as an international cricketer, it is
a fact that he the only sportsman in history to
represent his country in both World Cup cricket and
World Cup football (albeit, just the qualifying stage).

While the now 62-year-old was part of a World Cup
winning side in cricket on two occasions (1975 and
1979), he also represented Antigua and Barbuda in
the qualifiers for the 1974 World Cup in football.

Antigua finished bottom of their group with a goal
difference of -19 after losing 1-11 to Trinidad and
Tobago, and 0-6 to Suriname.

Richards' football career might have fallen flat, but
there are a few in history who can even come close
to him when it comes to cricket. With Test and ODI
averages of 50.23 and 47 respectively, he
revolutionized the art of batting with the aggression
he brought out to the middle.

#4 Sir Ian Botham
Sir Ian Botham is often considered as the greatest
English cricketer of all time. He was an icon for a
generation of English cricket fans in the 1980s when
he, with his fearless brand of cricket, led the England
team to many famous triumphs, not least at
Headingley in 1981.

While his cricketing career is a tale for the ages, he
also briefly played professional football. In March
1980, he signed for lower league side Scunthorpe
United and made a total of 11 appearances for
the Irons.

He played as a centre-back and many say he could
have gone on to play for bigger clubs, but in the
end had to choose between cricket and football, and
Beefy decided to stick with the former. He tried to
revive his football career after a few year at Yeovil
Town, but was unsuccessful.

#3 CB Fry
It's safe to say that Charles Burgess Fry was the most
versatile sportsman the world has ever seen. He did
not just excel at cricket and football, as he
participated with distinction in athletics and
rugby union as well. Fry's biggest claim to fame, after
being a cricketer, is the fact that he once held the
world record for long jump.

Fry did stop there. After retirement, he became active
in the political scene after his friend Ranjitsinhji took
him on to be his assistant at the newly-formed
League of Nations, post World War I. He later joined
the Liberal Party back in the United Kingdom, but lost
all the three major elections he stood in. There is
also the legend that he was offered the throne of
Albania, which he turned down on a number of
occasions.

A dual international, Fry played in 26 Tests in
cricket and just the 1 international in football. His
finest moment in the beautiful game came when he
took part in the 1902 FA Cup final with Southampton,
having played in every game en route to the final. The
Saints eventually lost the final to Sheffield united in a
replay at Crystal Palace in London.

#2 Ellyse Perry
In the olden days, it was not such a rare sight to see
international cricketers turn out for their country in
football. However, in recent times, it is next
impossible to manage a dual international sporting
career with the hectic schedule involved.

Therefore, seeing a modern-say sportsperson like
Ellyse Perry do it is extraordinary to say the least.

Since debuting in both international cricket and
football at the age of 16, she has managed to balance
both her careers almost perfectly.

Perry has played 4 Tests for her country and
currently turns out for Syndey FC in the W-League,
the top professional football league for women in
Australia. She has expressed no desire to stop
playing either sport in the near future.
The 23-year-old has already won the ICC Women's
World Cup and the World T20 (twice). She also
participated in the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2011,
where she scored this spectacular goal against
Sweden.

#1 Denis Compton
Denis Compton is one of the greatest English
cricketers ever.
He is one of the few English batsmen
to have an average of over 50 in Test cricket. An ICC
hall of fame inductee, the former Middlesex captain
is only one of 25 batsmen to have scored over a
hundred centuries in first-class cricket.

While starring for his country in international cricket,
Compton also had a reasonably
successful footballing career at Arsenal, who are
considered to be one of the biggest clubs in England.

Playing as a winger, he won the FA Cup in 1950, to go
with a league title in 1948 with the North London
side.
He never played an official international football
match, which is put down to World War II, a period
during which no official matches were played.

In a cricket match in 1946, Compton showed his
footballing skills when he ran Vijay Merchant out by
kicking the ball on to the stumps from mid-on.

Posted by Segun on Saturday, October 11, 2014 - Rating: 4.5

Title : 5 famous cricketers who also played professional football
Description : It takes some special talent to represent one's country in cricket, but to play football and cricket at the highest level requires an ex...

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