10 Cricketers who played other sport
These cricketers were multi-talented and shone for their country in different sport as well.
8. Denis Compton- Football
Denis Compton was an English great in the World War II era. Compton is in the elite list of players to score more than 100 first-class centuries! He played his entire first-class career for Middlesex scoring over 38000 runs with 123 centuries and 183 fifties. He scored his first Test century in the 1938 Ashes at the age of 20. His career expanded for 20 years as he amassed 5807 runs in 78 test matches at an astonishing average of 50 comprising 7 centuries.
Also, Compton was keenly interested in Football. He began his career at non-league Nunhead in the 1933-34 season. He made a move to Arsenal as a winger and made his debut there in 1936. Winning the league in 1948 and FA Cup in 1950, he scored 16 goals in his professional football career before suffering a knee injury and giving up on it.
However, Compton’s cricket career was glorious. The right-handed batsman was the lone fighter in England team in the 1948 Ashes. Against Bradman’s ‘invincibles’, Compton scored 184 at Trent Bridge and a fighting 145 at Old Trafford where the next highest score in the innings was 37.
Similar to many players of that generation, Compton lost few cricketing years because of the Second World War. He served in India in the army during that period. In 2009, Compton was inducted in the ICC Hall of Fame. There is a stand named after him at the Lord’s Cricket Ground, Compton Stand in his memory.
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