5 famous cricketers who also played professional football

#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.