It is extremely difficult for a person to become a full-time sportsperson. Dedicating your entire life to a particular sport is quite risky, as you are one potentially career-ending injury away from ruining all the past year’s effort. Lots of people realize very late that they don’t have that X-factor that is going to make them outstanding athletes. Till that time, your competitors have also improved and gone ahead.
Despite all this, some players excel at more than 1 sport. Let’s have a look at some of the female cricketers who played another sport too professionally.
1) Clare Taylor
Regarded as one of the best bowlers in women’s cricket, Taylor made her debut for England in 1988 against Ireland. She picked 1 wicket in that match. Taylor has played a total of 121 matches for England taking 127 wickets in total. She has also taken a total of 294 wickets in her List A career. Taylor was known for her fierce fast bowling skills. She won the Women’s World Cup with England in 1993 at Lord’s Cricket Ground against New Zealand.
Along with cricket, Taylor was quite successful as a footballer too, she represented England at the Women’s FIFA World Cup too in 1995, two years after winning the Cricket World Cup. She mainly played as a defender. Clare Taylor became the first player to represent her country at the World Cup in two different sports. Taylor started playing football at the age of 11.
2) Holly Ferling
A right-arm fast bowler, Holly Ferling made her debut for Australia against Australia in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2013 which was held in India. In that match, she took 2 wickets in just 3 overs. Ferling has played a total of 34 matches for Australia taking a total of 32 wickets. She took 9 wickets from just 4 innings in the 2013 World Cup. An injury potentially ruined her chances of getting selected for the 2017 World Cup.
Holly even played Netball earlier in her career. She was quite good at it too. She represented wide bay Thundercats in the Queensland State Netball League. She eventually had to decide to stick to cricket as a professional career option.
3) Meg Lanning
Australian Captain Meg Lanning made her debut for Australia in 2010 against Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand. Since then she has made a name for herself, being regarded as the one of best women players ever to grace the field. Lanning has played a total of 241 matches for Australia amassing a total of 8352 runs for them. In 2014, she also became the youngest player ever to captain the Australian side (aged 21). She has also scored 17 centuries for Australia.
She has won a total of 7 World Cups (both 50 and 20 overs) being one of the most decorated players. Meg Lanning represented Victoria at the Hockey junior level while also playing for the senior team of Hawthorn Hockey Club
4) Alyssa Healy
Australian vice-captain Alyssa Healy is also regarded as a top top player. She made her debut for Australia in February 2010 against New Zealand. Healy has played a total of 248 matches scoring a total of 5500 runs for them. A wicketkeeper-batter, she is known as one of the most destructive players in women’s cricket. Alyssa Healy hails from a sports-crazy family, with her uncle Ian Healy being a top wicketkeeper for Australia in the ’80s and 90’s.
Just like Lanning, Healy too played hockey in her younger days, at the state level. Healy revealed that she has played against half of the Australian Women’s Hockey players at the state level.
5) Sophie Devine
New Zealand’s captain Sophie Devine, made her debut for the New Zealand team in October 2006 at the tender age of just 17. Devine has played a total of 259 matches for the white fern, accumulating a total of 6544 runs while also claiming a total of 202 wickets. Devine has been one the best player for the White Ferns in the recent past.
Devine has also represented New Zealand in Hockey. She started playing cricket and Hockey quite early in her life, she also represented her college, Tawa College in both Hockey and Cricket. Later on, after playing for Black Sticks (New Zealand Hockey Team) she had to decide on 1 sport to focus on, she then chose cricket as the sport to continue as she was dropped from the black sticks squad.
Loves all things female cricket