Better known in other fields, but played cricket at a decent level

Graeme Hughes

Rugby League second-rower for Canterbury-Bankstown & NSW

Played 20 First class cricket matches for NSW scoring 604 runs @ 22.37.

Ric Charlesworth

Bronko D'jura

Played Rugby League for South Sydney as well as a few games for St George & Wests.

Played cricket for Australia Under 19s, NSW Under 19s, NSW Colts, NSW 2nd XI, etc

Keith Slater

Henry "Mucka" Fewin

Played Rugby League for Australia & Qld

Played one First Class cricket match for Qld.

Peter Sumich ...Oz under 19s

Allen Aylett

VFL - 220 games for North Melbourne, chairman of VFL, etc

Played 11 First Class cricket matches for Victoria scoring 275 runs @ 16.17 & 2 wkts @ 31

Darrel Baldock

Australian Rules - Australia Football Hall Of Fame, 119 games St Kilda (237 goals), Latrobe, East Devonport, etc

Played 2 First class cricket matches for Tasmania scoring 86 runs @ 21.50

Clem Jones

Lord Mayor of Brisbane between 1961 & 1975

Played cricket for University in the Brisbane First Grade competition

John "Knuckles" Connolly

Australian Rugby Union coach

Played cricket for Valleys in the Brisbane First Grade competition

Craig Bradley

Played 375 games for Carlton in the VFL / AFL.

Played 4 First Class cricket matches for SA & Victoria scoring 124 runs @ 17.71. Also played for Australia Under 19 & Australia Young Cricketers scoring centuries for both.

Gary Neville

Man Utd and England stalwart right-back and Sky Sports pundit/part-time left-wing political activist.

At age 17, made a 200 partnership with Matthew Hayden in the Lancashire League! Brother Phil was a handy cricketer as well.

Usain Bolt

Olympic legend and fastest man of all-time (and failed wannabe footballer)

Bowled Chris Gayle in a charity match, described by Curtly Ambrose as a “decent cricketer”. Sprint team-mate/rival Yohan Blake was also a handy cricketer with franchise ambitions (and I seem to remember rang the bell at Lord’s during the London Olympics).

Geoff Hurst

The only ever World Cup Final hat-trick hero (with a football…), and the only Englishman apart from Martin Peters and Luke Shaw to score in a major international final.

Played one first-class match for Essex as a wicketkeeper, with 23 second XI appearances.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home

Tory PM of the 1960s, whose length of service in the top job wouldn’t seem out of place in 2020s politics.

10 first-class matches for Middlesex, Oxford University and MCC.

Brian Littleproud

National Party member in Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1983 to 2001.

Played cricket for Qld Country & South Qld.

Berrick Barnes

Played 51 Rugby Union tests for Australia. Also played 9 games of first grade rugby leadue for the Broncos.

Represented Queensland Under 17 cricket team at the 2001/02 National Championship.

Barry Maranta

Co-founder of Brisbane Broncos rugby league team

Kept wickets for University in the Brisbane First Grade competition

Rob Andrew

England and Lions rugby union fly-half in the 80s and 90s.

12 FC appearances for Cambridge University, also played for Yorkshire 2nd XI.

Ray Lindwall, Test fast bowler and St George Rugby League player (2 GFs).

Nice work, W. Don't you sleep??

Cricket might be seen as a “posh” sport in England, particularly in the South, but it doesn’t seem to extend as far as royalty. I thought there must have been at least a few minor royals who played FC cricket over the years, but one obscure grandson of Queen Victoria who played a single FC game seems to be the extent of it. They obviously prefer to stick to equestrian sports generally…

David Rathie
Earl Spaulding
George Young
Bruce Duperouzel
Barrie Robran
Bob Hawke
Ian McLelland
Alan McGilvray
Henry Blofeld
Dickie Bird
Barry Thornton
Ken McAullay
Derek Chadwick
Paul Nicholls



used to be a lot more common

I did think of Blowers, but thought maybe his well-known occupation was too cricket-centred to qualify. Rarer nowadays that commentators didn’t have a substantial FC and typically international career, anyway. Most umpires played at FC level as well.

Struggling to find too many good English examples. Most are from elsewhere in sport, and ditched cricket when the moment to choose arrived. Plenty of celebrity (acting/music/comedy etc.) cricket fans, but not too many with a serious playing CV.

Peter McWhinney

Professional golfer who won the 1983 Qld PGA & a tournament in Japan.

Played cricket for Wests in the Brisbane First Grade competition

Samuel Beckett

Writer and celebrated playwright.

Quick bowler who opened the bowling for Trinity college Dublin