Playing a single sport is pretty common for any sportsperson. However, some sportswomen aspire to shine in more than one sport and hence take up two or more sports at a time. Participating in multiple sports can be difficult as sometimes one is left with the choice of selecting between the two.
Some sportswomen started their careers in one sport and gradually shifted to another after a period of time. However, others continued playing multiple sports pretty efficiently. In our article, we have listed down the names of five women cricketers who, over the years, have played sports other than cricket.
#5 Alyssa Healy (Cricket and Hockey)
Alyssa Healy, the right-handed wicketkeeper batswoman, is currently representing Australia in the ICC Women’s World Cup, hosted by England. She has a strong cricketing background with Ian Healy, the former Australian wicket-keeper, being her uncle. In April 2016, she tied the knot with Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc.
With 48 ODIs and 72 T20Is, she is one of the most experienced heads in the Aussie batting line-up. However, apart from cricket, she also has played the game of hockey.
In hockey, she represented the New South Wales Under 21 team in 2010 and 2011. In an interview with Sporteluxe in 2016, she mentioned that she hasn’t given up playing hockey and pursues the game in the winter to keep herself fit.
#4 Deandra Dottin (Cricket and Track & Field)
Deandra Dottin of the West Indies has also played a couple of sports in her illustrious career. While she started off in the track and field arena in athletics, she shifted to cricket afterwards and went on to represent the West Indies national cricket team.
In athletics, she represented Barbados in the Under 17 and Under 20 levels where she won seven gold medals and two silver medals. She bagged the medals in Shot Put, Javelin Throw and Discuss Throw while representing Barbados in the CARIFTA Games and Central American & Caribbean Junior Championship.
She made her debut for the cricket team during their tour of Europe in 2008. She is the current record-holder for the fastest century in T20 Internationals when she achieved the feat in 2010 against South Africa off just 38 balls.
#3 Meg Lanning (Cricket and Hockey)
Meg Lanning is the current skipper of the Australian women’s cricket team and has led her side pretty efficiently in the recent past. With 11 centuries in One Day Internationals at a staggering average of 54, Lanning is arguably one of Australia’s most reliable players in the middle-order.
An aggressive batswoman by nature, Lanning smashed 126 runs from 65 balls against Ireland in a Women’s World T20 game in 2013, which is still the second highest individual score in women’s T20 internationals.
However, before representing Australia in cricket, Lanning’s dream was to play for the Australian Hockey team in the Olympics. By the time she hit 18, she had played for Victoria in junior hockey and also for the Hawthrone Hockey Club.
#2 Suzie Bates (Cricket and Basketball)
As a sportsperson, Suzie Bates has plied her trade in both cricket and basketball. She has been immensely successful in both the sports, representing New Zealand at the highest level.
In basketball, she represented her nation at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. However, she gave up the sport after taking over the role of captaining the New Zealand women’s cricket team in 2011. She admitted that she couldn’t do justice to both sports at the same time and hence gave up basketball.
She is currently an integral figure in the women’s cricket team with both bat and ball. With the bat, she has 3689 and 2214 runs in One Day Internationals and T20 Internationals respectively. Even with the ball, she hasn’t disappointed as she has picked up 72 and 47 wickets in the ODI and T20I formats respectively.
#1 Elysse Perry (Cricket and Football)
With debuts for the Australian national cricket and soccer team at the age of 16, Elysse Perry is undoubtedly the best sportswoman Australia ha ever produced. She is the youngest player to represent Australia in both cricket and football.
She is also the first Australian sportswoman to represent her nation in both Cricket and Soccer World Cups. In soccer, she played her first match for Australia against Hong Kong in an Olympic qualifier in 2007. Her first game in cricket came in the same year when Australia took on New Zealand in a One Day International at Darwin.
In Perry’s case, the numbers speak for themselves. In 87 ODIs, she has amassed 2080 runs at an average of 49.52 while picking up 118 wickets. In T20s, she has scored 797 runs and also has 77 wickets in her kitty.
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