Test cricketers to have played international rugby
Columnist
By Kersi Meher-Homji, 18 Oct 2009 Kersi Meher-Homji is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- Cricket, dual internationals, Jeff Wilson, Rugby Union
Dual International, Jeff Wilson in action as a rugby and cricket international - varied sources
Thanks to Roar reader Freud of Football’s suggestion a few days ago, I have researched Test cricketers who have represented their country in rugby. This post does not claim to be exhaustive, but it is interesting.
Part I looks at versatile Test and one-day international (ODI) cricketers who have represented their country in rugby at international levels. [Part II will list Test cricketers who have played football (soccer), hockey, tennis or baseball for their countries.]
Dual internationals in Test cricket and rugby:
For England: Albert ‘Monkey’ Hornby, Andrew Stoddart, MJK Smith, Reggie Spooner and George Vernon represented England in rugby. Hornby and Stoddart captained England in both cricket and rugby. Maurice Turnbull played rugby and hockey for Wales. Gregor McGregor played rugby for Scotland.
For England and Australia: Sammy Woods represented England in rugby.
For England and South Africa: Frank Mitchell represented England in rugby.
For Australia: Otto Nothling represented Australia in rugby.
For South Africa: Tony Harris, John ‘Biddy’ Anderson, Percy Twentyman-Jones, Albert Powell and Alfred Richards represented South Africa in rugby. James Sinclair played rugby for South Africa and England. Reggie Schwarz, Harold ‘Tuppy’ Owen-Smith, Reginald Hands, Sir William Milton and Clive van Ryneveld played rugby for England. Michael Elgie played rugby for Scotland.
For New Zealand: Eric Tindill, George Dickinson and ML ‘Curley’ Page represented New Zealand in rugby. Martin Donnelly represented England in rugby.
Then there were players who represented their country in cricket ODIs and in rugby. Here are three instances, according to Martin Williamson in Cricinfo:
A throwback to an early era where dual internationals were more commonplace, New Zealander Jeff Wilson started as a cricketer, playing four ODIs as a 19-year-old all-rounder of considerable promise, before turning his attention to rugby where he became an All Black legend with 44 tries in 60 appearances. On retiring he returned to playing cricket, and after a 12-year gap he played two more ODIs and a one-off Twenty20 for New Zealand against Australia in February and March 2005.
Another New Zealander Brian McKechnie was the unwilling participant in controversies in both cricket and rugby. In 1981 he was the batsman on the receiving end of Trevor Chappell’s infamous under-arm delivery at the end of the third final of the Benson & Hedges World Series between New Zealand and Australia at the MCG. Three years earlier he kicked the penalty that gave the All Blacks a hotly disputed 13-12 victory over Wales at Cardiff. The result secured New Zealand’s rugby players a “grand slam” of victories against all four countries.
Rudi van Vuuren is unique in that he represented Namibia at the 2003 cricket World Cup in South Africa and at the rugby World Cup in Australia later that year. His five matches in cricket were mixed affairs; he was hammered for a then-record 28 runs in one over by Darren Lehmann but a week earlier he had taken 5 for 43 against England. A decent fly-half, he was injured for much of Namibia’s rugby campaign, including their 142-0 defeat against the defending champions Australia.
Sources: Wisden (many editions), The Wisden Book of Test Cricket (Volumes I, II and III) compiled by Bill Frindall, Cricket’s Great All-rounders (New Holland Publishers, 2008), Martin Williamson, Cricinfo.
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- Explore:
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Spiro Zavos said | October 18th 2009 @ 6:33am | Report comment
Eric Ti ndall, who selected me for my first representative cricket team in Wellington, at primary school, was also a representative table tennis champion and refereed Test rugby and umpired Test cricket.
Ted Dexter did not represent England at golf but was a champion club player, I believe.
It may be that Jeff Wilson is the last of the double Test players of the major unions, although there may be players who represent at rugby or rugby league and in the Olympics at some stage, I guess.
The surprising thing is that there are relatively few double Test players, in my view.
Jim McDonald said | October 18th 2009 @ 7:29pm | Report comment
Spiro mentioned Eric Tindall, who represented NZ as he said. But Spiro forgot Charlie J Oliver (Rugby captain and Cricket for NZ). Also Oliver was Spiro’s first rugby coach at school.
Jim
Phil Kerr said | November 19th 2009 @ 2:40pm | Report comment
Can anyone help me with the name of the New Zealand sportsman who represented NZ in cricket and hockey around the 1940′s era?
Dave1 said | November 26th 2009 @ 4:49pm | Report comment
Eddie McLeod
Peter said | June 11th 2010 @ 9:39pm | Report comment
If I remember correctly, Jeff Wilson probably regretted facing Australia in cricket. He should have stopped while he was ahead!!!!!!!
GavinH said | December 29th 2010 @ 9:54am | Report comment
i remember him hitting the winning runs vs Aus so i doubt that!
JohnB said | December 16th 2010 @ 4:04pm | Report comment
Jeff Wilson never played Test cricket. ODIs yes, Tests no.
sheek said | October 18th 2009 @ 7:09am | Report comment
Tubby Owen-Smith played 5 tests for South Africa in the late 1920s before carving a career as one of England’s best ever fullbacks.
There aren’t too many Aussies to have reached the highest level in both cricket & rugby. Otto Nothling’s only cricket test is remembered by trivia buffs as Otto being the man to replace Bradman for the second test against England back in 1928-29.
Bradman had made his debut in the first test, dropped for the second, & was never relegated again! Nothling was the outstanding Waratahs/Wallabies fullback of the 20s, being super-ceded in both roles by Alec Ross.
In the early 70s, David Rathie played a couple of tests at centre for the Wallabies, while representing Queensland in the Sheffield Shield as a batsman.
Great paceman Ray Lindwall would probably have become a rugby league Kangaroo had he not decided to concentrate on cricket exclusively.
But I agree with Spiro, the number of dual test rugby/cricket players is surprisingly small.
Lindommer said | October 18th 2009 @ 8:13am | Report comment
David Rathie’s first-class rugby and cricket careers didn’t exactly co-incide, they had a lot in common with Jeff Wilson’s as he played cricket for Queensland in the early 70s before his rugby tests in 1972 and resumed cricket in the mid and late 70s. David was/is a solicitor and chanced his arm at one of the big city legal firms in Sydney in the late 70s. He turned out for Randwick and picked up a few appearances for the Waratahs including one match was against Queensland at Ballymore, before travelling to Christchurch, where he turned out for Canterbury in the Shell Trophy.
A very good all-round sportsman.
Brett McKay said | October 18th 2009 @ 9:51am | Report comment
as usual Kersi, another very interesting read. I’m glad you mention Namibia’s Rudi van Vuuren – from memory he’s also one of Namibia’s top doctors in a field that escapes me. I recall having to look him up during a discussion on The Roar that (unsurprisingly) veared a long way off the original topic!!
Freud of Football said | October 18th 2009 @ 9:08pm | Report comment
Yes, I remember seeing a short biography on van Vuuren during that 2003 world cup where they mentioned he was also in their rugby team and a doctor, one of those “all round nice bloke” kinda guys it seemed.
While I didn’t see him play any rugby, I did see the Australia – Namibia match, McGrath’s 7-15 which included something like 7-2 or 7-4 seemed slightly surreal and were it not Namibia I would have been genuinely excited but I saw van Vuuren in two other games and he looked the part, a solid enough bowler although Darren Lehmann might disagree.
Hansie said | October 18th 2009 @ 10:37am | Report comment
Wilson was a freak. His wife, NZ netball captain Adine Wilson, has not long given birth to their first child, so I expect Australia to be taunted by another sporting freak in about 20 years time. Wilson has commented that it a long time for him to lose the body of a rugby player and develop the body of a cricketer, so I doubt we will see future dual internationals given the physical demands of professional sport.
True Tah said | October 18th 2009 @ 2:20pm | Report comment
I also understand that Jeff Wilson represented NZ at athletics at an underage level and was also a pretty handy basketball player.
Knives Out said | October 18th 2009 @ 10:42am | Report comment
The Scotland test full back Hugo Southwell represented Sussex (Or Surrey?) at One Day cricket, and apparently still has aims to become a dual internationalist.
Kersi Meher-Homji said | October 18th 2009 @ 1:52pm | Report comment
Spiro,
You are quite correct about Ted Dexter and golf. He played in the English Amateur Golf Championships in 1950s and 60s.
More about versatile sportsmen in Part II which will be posted on The Roar in a day or two.
Spiro Zavos said | October 18th 2009 @ 7:44pm | Report comment
A friend has pointed out to me that I’ve forgotten Charlie Oliver, a double All Black in cricket and rugby in the 1930s who was our coach at Star of the Sea Convent, in Wellington. Charlie was a lovely man, a real gentleman, who was very good at sports. He was a dashing batsman and an incisive second five-eighths. I remember him showing us his gnarled and broken fingers and telling us, ‘Wales did that to me boys. Don’t you ever forget what they did to us.’
Fly on the Wall said | October 18th 2009 @ 8:09pm | Report comment
Brian Booth is the only Australian Test cricketer to have competed at an Olympics.
He played hockey – my mum went to teacher’s college with him.
Jonty Rhodes I’m sure was a South African under-21 hockey player.
sheek said | October 19th 2009 @ 3:19pm | Report comment
Fly on the Wall,
Was your mum also a ‘fly on the wall’ at teacher’s college???
xxoo
Freud of Football said | October 18th 2009 @ 9:16pm | Report comment
As usual Kersi, a thoroughly entertaining read.
Perhaps there are some anomalies here that might interest the numerically minded Greg Russell but it seems South Africa by far has the highest rate of dual rugby internationals. England will likely have more footballers than other countries but I can’t help feel that South Africa’s was due to the apartheid era combined with their culture.
I’m no expert having only lived there for just under six months quite a while back but the separation between classes was apparent and it still seemed to me, even though the apartheid was over that the power was held by the wealthy elite, perhaps these were also the guys who were getting picked to represent the country, something like the way the Administrative boards in many sports work, gentleman’s clubs where it’s not what you know but whom.